Detroit Fire Department outlines nurse-navigation pilot to divert low-acuity 911 calls

Deputy Commissioner Derek Hellman of the Detroit Fire Department presented a plan to add nurse navigation to the city’s 911 workflow, telling the Public Health & Safety Committee that about 25% of the department’s roughly 150,000 annual calls are low-priority and could be handled without dispatching EMS crews. Under the proposal, dispatchers would transfer low-priority calls to a nurse who would assess whether the caller needs a hospital ambulance, scheduled transport, urgent care, telehealth or referral to other community resources. "This nurse then will also do a quality control of that call and see is it a true emergency," Hellman said.

Officials described a phased implementation: Q3 bid review and site visits to select a vendor, Q4 contracting, a pilot beginning in January and a broader rollout the following spring if pilot results are positive. Hellman said the department is reviewing two vendor proposals and expects the pilot to reduce unnecessary ambulance responses, limit crew fatigue and reduce resident costs for avoidable emergency-room visits. He also said translation services are part of vendor offerings and could cover up to 200 languages.

Council members praised the initiative as a possible cost-saving and equity-improving measure and asked for more details on vendor qualifications, language access and how the program would coordinate with the health department’s existing rides and maternal support programs. Hellman said he would follow up with more specifics about vendor capabilities and the planned public outreach phase.