New Centralized Transportation Center Benefits Patients and Staff

EMS Relations Manager, Jason Miller, helps traffic transport calls.

A new centralized transportation system is greatly helping staff at Methodist Healthcare facilities deliver a better patient experience. The new Centralized Transportation Center, which began in February, enables discharge nurses at any Methodist Healthcare facility as well as our Emergency Departments and FreeStanding Emergency Departments to call one phone number to arrange transportation for patients leaving the facility. “All transportation requests now come through one place,” said Brandon Miller, EMS Relations Manager for Methodist Healthcare. “Then all our EMS providers are contacted at one time with information on the patient needing transportation, their destination, and any special needs. They get back to us with the estimated time of arrival and we assign the request to the fastest provider.” In addition, only vetted EMS providers who share performance data for continual process improvement and training purposes are utilized. The center also can be called to transport a patient from one Methodist Healthcare facility to another when different services are needed.

Brandon said the EMS Relations Team saw staff such as nurses and case managers, spending a long time waiting for responses from providers or being told no transportation was available. This meant that some patients were waiting in their beds for hours and nurses were taken away from bedside activities. “Our ERs have been full lately with patients waiting for beds,” said Brandon. “With the Centralized Transportation Center patients leave the hospital sooner, making more beds available.”

Chillon Montgomery, Director of Trauma, and Jason Miller review transport needs across the System.

EMS Relations Manager, Frankie Trifilio, shared, “These transports are 1-2 hours quicker which means our patients spend less time waiting and are able to get back home earlier in the day.” Frankie adds, “We are also equipped to pre-plan long distance transports with case management to avoid overnight travel of our most fragile patients.” In addition to helping patients get home sooner, the EMS providers escort patients directly into their homes, instead of dropping them off curbside, and assess the home situation—determining if there is someone to receive the patient, if heat and electricity are working, and other conditions. The center is averaging about 50 calls per day in its first month of operation. “We see much potential for growth and expansion with benefits for both staff and patients,” said Brandon. Employees working on the project with Brandon and Frankie include Regional VP of Operations and Patient Management, Susan Kilgore, Director of Trauma, Chillon Montgomery, and EMS Relations Manager, Jason Miller. The Centralized Transportation Center currently operates Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. with expanded hours coming soon. The service is available to any staff member to arrange for ambulance or wheelchair van transports. For more information, email ctc.info@MHSHealth.com.

EMS Facility Dog, Chanel, shows us how to answer calls!