CMW News: Open door policy: MA hospitals can no longer turn ambulances away
Case Management Weekly, September 17, 2008
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When a hospital’s emergency department is overflowing and ambulances just keep coming, it has become a common practice to divert some of those ambulances to other area hospitals.
However, turning ambulances away is no longer an option for facilities in Massachusetts. The state government has ordered a halt to the practice by January 1. State officials say that while diverting may help some hospitals with overcrowding, the costs usually outweigh the benefits.
According to The Boston Globe, diverting ambulances decreases patient choice, ties up vehicles, and often just shifts the crowding to other hospitals. In addition, not allowing some patients to enter may prevent them from going to the hospital where their medical records are kept.
This change will force hospitals to devise different strategies to keep patients from crowding into hallways in the emergency department.
Source: The Boston Globe
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