Ambulance committee asks commission to consider nurse-navigation teletriage to reduce 911 demand

The county’s ambulance committee has asked the Lauderdale County Commission to consider a nurse-navigation program intended to reduce nonemergency ambulance dispatches.

Committee members discussed a tele-triage model in which 911 calls meeting specified clinical criteria would be transferred to a licensed, state-registered nurse for assessment and referral to the appropriate level of care. Staff said the model would connect callers to local urgent-care centers, arrange transportation when needed, and reserve ambulances for higher-acuity calls.

Speaker 6 told the commission the committee "made a motion and voted to move that to the county commission for consideration as well as to the city council for consideration." The initial start-up cost is $70,000, Speaker 6 said, and the program proposes an $80 fee for each call transferred into the nurse-navigation system. Staff estimated roughly 180–210 calls per month would be transferred and said that, in a model from Clark County, Washington, similar work increased available ambulance unit hours by about 1,000 per year.

Commissioners asked operational and fiscal questions. One commissioner asked whether insurance could be billed; staff replied no and confirmed the $80 fee would be charged by jurisdiction (city calls billed to the city, county calls billed to the county). Commissioners also raised the risk of overuse; staff said the proposal includes protocol guardrails and noted laws already exist to address misuse of 911.

The proposed contract term discussed was one year, with options to reassess after that period. Legal and intergovernmental review are ongoing: staff said documentation will be provided to county staff for review and the mayor plans to route consideration through city committees.

The referral action came from the ambulance committee; the commission did not record a final vote on adopting the program at this meeting.