Oklahoma Patients Get More Hospital Choices
June 12--SKIATOOK -- The city's Fire Department-based ambulance service will change its delivery protocol to reflect a patient's choice in destinations in response to a state Department of Health investigation, documents released Monday show.
The switch follows a patient destination-related complaint probe initiated Feb. 16 by the Health Department, records indicate. Currently, the city can take nonemergency patients roughly 13 miles to either of two Owasso hospitals: St. John Owasso or Bailey Medical Center.
"As it relates to the State Department of Health's desires for a patient to have a 'choice' of destination no matter the priority condition of the patient, we are currently preparing a document requesting the Oklahoma State Department of Health to approve a change in our delivery protocol that would include the additional destinations of choice for Priority 3 and 4 patients, the Tulsa-area hospitals of Hillcrest Medical Center (21 miles), St. John Medical Center (22 miles) and the OSU Medical Center (22 miles)," Skiatook Fire Chief Dale Parrish wrote in a May 30 "Corrective Action Plan."
State EMS Director Dale Adkerson said the request for a change in medical destination protocols must be submitted by Friday.
The Tulsa World received the documents after submitting a state Open Records Act request.
Parrish wrote that the change in protocol will increase the number of times per month both ambulances are out simultaneously, but it will have the "least amount of impact on our department's ability to have an EMS unit available for Priority 1 (life-threatening) and 2 (potentially life-threatening) patients."
Priority 3 and 4 patients involve nonemergency situations.
Shortly after taking the chief's job in January 2009, Parrish discovered that 50 to 60 times per month, the city's two ambulances were both gone at the same time, leaving the town to rely on mutual aid from cities such as Owasso, Collinsville and Hominy for ambulance calls.
Parrish told the Tulsa World in February that it takes 78 to 97 minutes for nonemergency trips to and from Tulsa.
Following its investigation, the Health Department found that Skiatook transports to Tulsa hospitals are within a reasonable service range and that Parrish, in an interview, said that not all patients were transported to their hospital of choice because of time constraints.
The Health Department determined that patient transports are being made to Owasso to reduce ambulance out-of-service times, records indicate.
The state agency also reviewed reports dated Sept. 6, 2006, and Dec. 30, 2009, according to documents.
The 2006 patient care report indicated that Skiatook EMS transferred care to another EMS agency to keep its ambulance inside the city. Records of the 2009 report show that patients were transported to inappropriate facilities, documents claim.
The change in destination protocols will be submitted for approval to Skiatook town trustees within one month after being approved by the state, Parrish wrote.
The Skiatook Fire Department provides advanced life support, fire-based medical services for a 256-square-mile response district in portions of Osage, Tulsa and Osage counties.
A 2009 Health Department protocol change allowed for the "reasonable service range" to be no more than 15 miles from the patient's original location for Priority 3 and 4 patients, Parrish wrote in his May 30 letter.
In a letter to Parrish dated June 8, however, Adkerson wrote that the Health Department has no physician-signed letter of approval for the 2009 protocols, adding that "a letter sent to your agency in April 2010 states the protocols requested needed to have your medical director's signature. Additionally, a review of the information showed that all types and levels of patients were being transported into Tulsa hospitals."
Parrish was unavailable for immediate comment Monday.
Rhett Morgan 918-581-8395
rhett.morgan@tulsaworld.com
Copyright 2012 - Tulsa World, Okla.
