CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – A new state law seeks to provide some relief to emergency responders across the Mountain State.
13 News reporter Rachel Pellegrino highlighted the ongoing emergency care crisis in January. Statistics obtained through a Freedom of Information Request showed it has become something of an ambulance jam at hospitals, with patients waiting on stretchers for some hours.
Emergency care crisis: Ambulances taken ‘hostage’ at West Virginia hospitals
A new “treatment in place” protocol went into effect on May 1, 2024, to help combat that problem and alleviate long wait times in emergency rooms, according to the West Virginia Department of Health (WVDH).
“When we look at the opportunity to expand services and make things work a little better not only for our people in West Virginia but for our medical professionals, it’s a win,” said Dr. Sherri Young, Secretary of WVDH.
Instead of taking all patients to the hospital, some will be able to qualify for “treatment in place” care, meaning they will be able to receive treatment wherever they are at the time.
According to the WV EMS Coalition and WVDH, patients must refuse transportation and have one of the following conditions to be treated: diabetes – hypoglycemia, asthma/COPD, seizure disorders, overdose or must be a cessation of efforts patient.
The initiative will also allow EMS providers to continue to be compensated without having to take the patient to the hospital, which was not the case before.
“Basically, it’s lost in healthcare,” Young said. “They provide that service but they can’t bill for it unless they transport the patient to the hospital.”
Residents with Medicaid and a private insurance provider will be reimbursed for “on-site treatment” services, but Young said they are still working with Medicare as part of the treatment process to receive reimbursement.
According to statistics from the WV EMS Coalition, Medicaid and private insurance providers cover approximately 46% of West Virginia’s population.
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While the initiative seeks to help get ambulances back into service, Chris Hall, executive director of the WV EMS Coalition, said reimbursement for services helps with other underlying issues like lack of staffing and funding.
“The biggest issue right now is really the lack of available EMS personnel,” Hall said. “When there is not an ambulance available to dispatch, there is usually a truck available. but we don’t have the EMS workers to get on that truck and send them out and respond.”
Hall said the “treat-in-place” protocol is especially beneficial for rural West Virginia.
“We have several counties in West Virginia where they don’t have a hospital. So when that ambulance takes a patient to an emergency room, they are actually pulling the entire ambulance out of that county and local community,” Hall said. “So anything we can do to keep the ambulance local will improve patient care.”
Young said there is a second part of the bill that Gov. Jim Justice signed and has not yet gone into effect that offers a third option for EMS providers: alternate destination.
That means patients can be taken to a lower-acuity facility, such as an urgent care center.
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