Firefighters armed with tablets are helping reduce unnecessary emergency department visits in Houston, according to NPR.
As part of Project Ethan, which stands for Emergency TeleHealth and Navigation, firefighters answer emergency calls. If they do not seem like emergencies, the firefighters are able to perform an initial exam and then use a tablet to video chat a physician, who can assess the patient and set up a primary care appointment and transportation to the appointment for the patient.
The program, which costs $1 million a year, could save the system more than $2 million, according to NPR, if all the unnecessary ED visits in the Houston area could be rerouted to primary care clinics. Forty percent of ED visits in the Houston area were for primary care-related issues, according to a 2011 study from the University of Texas cited in the report.
The project is currently funded by city grants, including money from a federal Medicaid waiver, according to the report.
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