Detroit Fire Department outlines 'nurse navigation' plan to triage low-priority 911 calls

The Detroit Fire Department presented a plan to route some low-priority 911 medical calls to clinical staff who can triage and direct callers to appropriate care instead of automatically dispatching ambulance crews.

Deputy Commissioner Derek Hellman said the department receives about 150,000 911 calls a year and estimates roughly 25% are low-priority or nonemergent. Under the proposed "nurse navigation" model, dispatchers would transfer eligible low-priority calls to a nurse who would assess urgency, provide on-the-spot advice, schedule transport to an urgent care or primary-care appointment, arrange telehealth, or, when necessary, return a case to 911 for ambulance dispatch.

"This is going to transform the way 911 services are done within the city," Hellman told the committee, saying similar programs operate in Washington, Seattle and other jurisdictions and that the city expects benefits including cost savings, reduced fatigue for crews and better matching of resources to emergencies.

Hellman described a procurement timeline: a Q3 bid review to identify a vendor, contract negotiation in Q4, a pilot launch targeted for January and a full rollout and monitoring phase in the following spring. He also said proposed vendors include translation capabilities to serve people in many languages.

Council members asked how the program would coordinate with the health department and whether non-English speakers would be served; Hellman and staff said translation and local health resources would be integrated. The committee did not take a vote on the program but expressed support and said it expects to revisit the item as vendor details are finalized.