There are about 20 nurse navigation programs across the country that coordinate with 911 emergency dispatch centers to free up ambulances and reduce emergency department visits.
Through these programs, nurses trained in emergency response evaluate callers with non-life-threatening concerns and determine the best next step for treatment. This can include referring patients to virtual or mobile care, urgent care, primary care or the emergency department.
The simple program has already shown great results across the country.
The city of Rochester, N.Y., and Monroe County, N.Y., launched a 911 nurse navigator program in January 2022.
"We've processed more than 7,000 callers and successfully navigated off the system about 3,000 folks that didn't get an ambulance and didn't need to go to an emergency department for their care," Jeremy Cushman, MD, the emergency medical director for the City of Rochester and Monroe County, told ABC affiliate WHEC. "Seventy percent of them, could stay in their home, they were provided the guidance that they needed by a nurse or connected with a physician, the other 30% were successfully transferred or transported I should say, to one of our partner urgent cares or clinics, in their community."
In total, the program has saved $7 million in healthcare costs.
In Washington state, American Medical Response expanded its nurse navigation program to Clackamas County in September, the Lund Report reported Nov. 26. The program connects patients to AMR's nurse call center in Texas. It saved the county one fire department and EMS response per day on average and freed up the equivalent of nearly three additional hours of ambulance availability during peak times per day, according to the report.