Just over one year ago on April 1, 2017, a new ambulance rolled into town, signaling a new Baptist and Priority Ambulance partnership. Designed to improve patient transfers between Baptist hospitals and support six 9-1-1 service areas in Tennessee and Mississippi, the new service has found great success.
Also, the combination of Baptist’s Patient Placement Center and ambulance dispatch marks one of the first integrated systems in the country.
One year ago, Priority got the wheels rolling in quick fashion, leading to today’s success.
- They mobilized the first 10 ambulances and more than 60 employees to serve Baptist’s five medical facilities in the greater Memphis area in April 2017.
- Today, Priority Ambulance has 31 vehicles and 300 ambulance employees providing medical transport to more than 30,000 patients each year at 12 Baptist Memorial Health Care facilities and provides six communities with 9-1-1 service in Mississippi and West Tennessee.
- The new service has effected real change. In Booneville, Mississippi, streamlined communication between the 9-1-1 communications center and hospital system resulted in a 40 percent increase in 9-1-1 transports to Baptist Booneville’s emergency department.
- Priority Ambulance has been able to increase transfer volume by approximately 40 percent in Memphis since assuming operations in April 2017, and that upward trend has been mirrored at facilities across the Baptist system.
- Both organizations have increased brand. Priority Ambulance created a new subsidiary, Baptist Ambulance, a member of the Priority family of companies that operates with ambulances under Baptist name and logo.
“A significant advantage to having one ambulance service provider for the majority all facilities is accountability,” said Katie Morrissette, Baptist Memorial Health Care TeleHealth Administrator.
A final goal was to improve patient flow efficiency by integrating Priority Ambulance’s dispatch center with Baptist’s bed management system/transfer center at the Patient Placement Center (PPC).
The PPC is staffed with experienced registered nurses who track the status and manage slightly more than 3,000 hospital beds in the Baptist system while facilitating transfers and assignments of beds at 19 Baptist hospitals from one central location. In addition, nurses can assist with air launch for a critical case. This is accomplished via the TeleTracking Technology Transfer Center system. By co-locating its dispatch center in this facility, Priority Ambulance can add ambulance transport to the PPC’s capabilities, further enhancing and aligning all mission critical services for safe, effective patient movement among Baptist hospitals, and upon discharge, to post–acute levels of care. Approximately 6,000 calls a month now route through the Priority-staffed ambulance dispatch center.
“We are constantly looking for ways that we can better integrate and partner with Baptist for the benefit of its patients,” said Priority Ambulance CEO Bryan Gibson. “In our first year of service, we have built a strong foundation of efficient communication and partnership. Together, we can continue to grow our services, further enhance our performance and identify innovative new advances to continually raise the bar on medical transport for Baptist patients.”
For more information, visit www.priorityambulance.com/baptistoneyear.
