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EMS report: new state rules for hospital handoffs take effect; Geary Stabilization Unit adds short-stay beds
Summary
Department officials told commissioners that state regulations to reduce ambulance offload delays took effect July 1 and that a new Geary Stabilization Unit at 822 Geary will add 16 beds for short stays; EMS data for June showed continued APOD delays and bystander CPR initiatives.
Assistant Deputy Chief Tony Malloy and section chief Michael Mason delivered the EMS and community paramedicine reports on July 9.
Malloy said statewide regulations that took effect July 1 require hospitals to report and develop plans to reduce ambulance patient-offload time (APOT) delays; the rules implement steps from state legislation and will require hospitals to submit remedies if their 90th-percentile offload times exceed 30 minutes. Malloy said the department recorded hospital offload delays in June with some hospitals reporting a 90th-percentile APOT of 65 minutes; the new reporting requirements will bring additional oversight and a framework for improvement.
The EMS report showed June averages of 14 code-3 hospital transports per day and continued use of naloxone (NARCAN) by responders and bystanders. Malloy also described local APOD alert protocols and said new state and local rules will allow authorities to raise alerts more quickly when offload delays exceed 30 minutes.
Michael Mason, on behalf of Deputy Chief Simon Pang and Assistant Deputy Chief April Sloan, described community paramedicine activity. He said the new Geary Stabilization Unit at 822 Geary will transition to a 24/7 model and will add 16 additional short-term beds where individuals can stay up to 23 hours; the unit is intended as a middle-acuity alternative to shelter or emergency-department care. Mason said street crisis response teams and the EMS 6 high-frequency-user team continue to connect people to services and that community paramedicine made notable placements in June, including a homeless pregnant patient referred for prenatal care.
Commissioners asked for details about how bed counts compare with existing city capacity; Mason said the stabilization unit provides additional beds but declined to enumerate total citywide bed counts during the meeting. Malloy and Mason encouraged commissioners to monitor outcomes of the new state APOT reporting and said the department will continue to track delays.
The commission received no votes on EMS policy at the meeting; staff said work will continue with the local emergency medical services agency and Department of Emergency Management on implementation.
