Pa. Medics Hitting the Streets with Community Medicine
March 19--Paramedics soon will be able to visit at least 1,000 chronically ill patients in Allegheny County, but instead of hauling them to the hospital, they'll be working to keep them in their homes.
The paramedics will provide simple care that could reduce hospital readmissions, such as ensuring patients fill prescriptions, get to medical appointments and follow doctors' orders. The two-year pilot program will start this summer and serve Pittsburgh and 36 other communities, including Mt. Lebanon, Ross and Penn Hills.
"We're hoping paramedics can fill the gaps to help reduce the need to be readmitted to the hospital for the same issue," said Dan Swayze, vice president and chief operating officer for the Center for Emergency Medicine of Western Pennsylvania, which will help train the paramedics.
If successful, the program could go countywide or even statewide, said Kathy Risko, executive director of the University of Pittsburgh's Congress of Neighboring Communities, or Connect, whose members the program will serve.
UPMC and Highmark, in a rare show of cooperation, are funding the $600,000 effort. The two health care giants are battling over the insurer's plans to acquire the financially ailing West Penn Allegheny Health System.
"We believe at Highmark that it's partnerships like this one created through this collaboration that will improve health care in the community well into the future," said Highmark spokesman Aaron Billger. UPMC spokesman Rick Pietzak declined to comment.
Risko and Swayze said the program targets patients with conditions such as asthma, diabetes and chronic heart disease who rely on emergency rooms for primary care and use ambulances frequently. Reducing ambulance trips and ER visits would cut costs and allow hospitals and EMS agencies to focus on patients who need help most, Connect officials said.
Statistics from the Emergency Medical Service Institute indicate there were about 613,000 ambulance runs last year in 10 Western Pennsylvania counties including Allegheny, Swayze said.
EMS agencies, Highmark, UPMC and other hospital emergency departments will refer patients to the program. Patients will get a 10-digit nonemergency number to call with questions or concerns. Paramedics will work with doctors and social service agencies to determine what care is needed.
Bill Zlatos is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7828 or bzlatos@tribweb.com.
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