The American Ambulance Association recently recognized Baptist’s partnership with Priority Ambulance – which includes providing 9-1-1 service in several rural communities and transferring patients between Baptist facilities – with a national award for Innovation in Emergency Medical Services.
Priority Ambulance and Baptist received an AMBY Award for creating a systemwide solution for patient movement to increase efficiency, accountability and patient satisfaction. The depth of the integration and the results of the partnership brought the program to national attention for innovative design.
“Working alongside the Priority team throughout the integration process has been rewarding for our staff and our patients, and we share in the honor of being recognized by the American Ambulance Association for our collective success,” Derick Ziegler, Baptist Memorial Health Care vice president of hospital and affiliate integration, said. “At Baptist, we continuously strive to lead the way in innovative systems designed to optimize efficiencies and the overall patient experience, and this is just one example.”
The Baptist-Priority Ambulance partnership began in April 2017, and today, Priority Ambulance serves more than 30,000 Baptist patients each year. To coordinate the systemwide ambulance network, a centralized dispatch center opened in the Baptist Patient Placement Center. Baptist’s PPC is staffed with experienced registered nurses who track the status of and manage all 3,500 hospital beds in the Baptist system while facilitating transfers and bed assignments among all Baptist hospitals from one central location. Priority Ambulance’s centralized dispatch center answers more than 70,000 ambulance transfer requests and 9-1-1 calls annually.
“With our integrated network, we have seen improvements in every community we serve, including improved transport volume, reduced transfer hold times, better resource allocation and staffing plans, increased accountability and brand visibility,” Katie Morrissette, Baptist Memorial Health Care system administrator for telehealth, said. “We are very proud of the system we have built together and look forward to continuing to work with Priority in the future.”
