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INTEGRATED HEALTHCARE New England EMS Agency Expands Community Paramedicine Program JUN 4, 2014 SOURCE: EASCARE BOSTON—EasCare, a mobile, integrated healthcare provider and one of New England’s largest medical transportation companies, has been recommended to expand the role of its highly trained community care paramedics (CCPs) for a project that would allow them to treat patients in their homes, in order to avoid a more costly visit to the hospital. The recommendation was made by the Emergency Medical Care Advisory Board (EMCAB) of the Department of Public Health. EasCare’s paramedicine program will avoid unnecessary emergency department and hospital utilization, which can cost thousands of dollars per visit, resulting in significant savings and better coordinated care. The innovative program, in which an ambulance company will be trying to reduce unnecessary trips to local hospitals, will launch through a partnership with Commonwealth Care Alliance (CCA), one of the nation’s leading not-for-profit care delivery systems for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries with complex medical needs. The project was approved overwhelmingly by both EMCAB and the new Community Paramedicine subcommittee of the Department of Public Health under a new Out of Hospital Care Program. EasCare’s new program now awaits final approval by the Department of Public Health. This innovative program, called community paramedicine, is a new model of care where paramedics apply their training and skills in non-traditional community-based environments outside the usual emergency response and transport model. The EasCare-CCA program will be the first of its kind in Massachusetts and will initially focus on servicing the Boston and South Shore communities, and it will allow up to 10 Massachusetts-certified paramedics to be trained to provide patient-centered care to CCA patients under new roles without transporting the MENU patient to a healthcare facility. CCPs will collaborate with the patient’s physician to create and deliver care without transporting to the hospital. This care model is patient centered, by accessing the patient’s medical records to having advanced assessments being performed with lab tests read in their home, technology will meet home care. The CCPs will also be able to identify any risks missed when transporting to the hospital, like fall hazards and medication non-compliance. States such as Texas, Minnesota and Colorado have turned to community paramedicine for non-traditional solutions. EasCare and CCA were the first organizations to introduce this innovative model to Massachusetts when they began a pilot program for post-discharge follow-up visits this past November. This new model, which required state approval, will expand on the original pilot and will be based on models developed in other states and by EasCare’s parent company, Medavie. The expanded program is designed to fill gaps in the current healthcare delivery system. Since 2003, CCA has offered home visits during the day with 24/7 phone assistance to speak directly with a CCA healthcare provider for care coordination. Previously, during off hours, the physicians were required to use hospitals and costly ambulance services in order to deliver after-hours patient care. Now that CCA has partnered with EasCare for this unique program, patients can receive medical care in their homes at all times of day from an EasCare paramedic. The primary goal is to meet the needs of a select group of 2,000 of CCA’s patients in the greater Boston area in a safe and controlled environment through community paramedicine. EasCare’s Out of Hospital Paramedic Care program is geared towards providing effective, high-quality, patient-centered care, while avoiding unnecessary hospital visits and admissions, and thus controlling health care costs. CCA’s protocol for the new program is to triage its patients as they call into the center; patients that are not sufficiently stable for on-scene care will be transported as usual to an emergency department via the local 911-provider. The EasCare Out of Hospital Paramedic will only visit patients who are triaged as appropriate for the program by CCA’s physicians. EasCare’s CCPs will be able to administer IVs and medications, evaluate respiratory issues, assess blood sugar levels for diabetic patients, manage hypertension, treat nausea and vomiting and care for wounds, among many other capabilities. In addition to caring for patients’ immediate needs, CCPs will also perform post-discharge and home follow-up visits, medication inventory, home safety evaluations and care coordination with the patients’ doctors throughout this two-year program. By offering these Out-of-Hospital services, EasCare will become an integrated component of a welldeveloped comprehensive healthcare model. These essential services meet several critical healthcare system goals, including cost containment and improving patient access to care. Though the needs of Massachusetts communities vary, this system can provide the flexibility necessary to deliver a wide variety of tailored out-of-hospital services in the future. “The capabilities of the EMS system have drastically evolved both in terms of technology, as well as with the role of paramedics. Paramedics are now able to perform complex patient assessments and interventions that once were only conducted in a hospital setting,” said George Gilpin, CEO of EasCare. “We expect the Extended Care Paramedic Program will be a key contributor to improved patient outcomes and to healthcare savings, all in the patient’s home.” EasCare’s parent company, Medavie EMS, has been a pioneer in community paramedicine in Canada. Medavie ran a similar pilot program in Nova Scotia that resulted in a 70 percent decrease in skilled-nursing facility patients being transported to an emergency room. Through another rural community paramedic program, there was a 23 percent reduction in visits to the local emergency room through the provision of home based non-emergency primary care. “CCA's mission has been to provide high quality, cost effective care in the best setting for our patients— usually in their home,” said Dr. Toyin Ajayi, the Hospitalist Medical Director and Director of Transitional Medicine at CCA. “We believe this community paramedicine partnership with EasCare will allow CCA to extend its ability to impact patient care in a unique and innovative manner. The integration of our primary care model and EasCare's community paramedicine will allow us to truly provide integrated care 24 hours a day." Post a new comment Login - Or - Guest Post 0 Comments RSS | Subscribe