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Committee hears bills to create specialty behavioral-health transport to move patients from ERs to psychiatric facilities
Summary
Representatives and providers told the House Health Policy Committee that House Bills 5943 and 5944 would create a certified behavioral-health transport option to reduce ambulance strain, speed transfers, improve patient experience and could save Medicaid about 25% per trip compared with ambulance transport.
Representative Frisbie introduced House Bills 5943 and 5944 and witnesses from Life EMS, Pine Rest and the Michigan Health & Hospital Association described a specialty behavioral-health transport vehicle and training standards intended to move voluntary behavioral-health patients from emergency departments to receiving psychiatric hospitals.
Mark Meyer, president of Life EMS Ambulance, said the service has performed more than 10,000 such transports in Michigan and the Midwest and that the vehicles provide a more secure, quieter and more dignified ride than an ambulance for patients who do not require medical monitoring. "We've done over 10,000 of these throughout Michigan and the Midwest," he said, arguing the approach reduces intake time at receiving facilities and preserves ambulance availability for medical emergencies.
Kyle Hoffmaster, director of patient access at Pine Rest, told the committee the hospital side favors the bills, saying behavioral-health transports are quicker, more cost-effective and preferred by patients. Kelsey Ostergren of the Michigan Health & Hospital Association said Medicaid coverage for these transports would shift spending away from ambulances and estimated each behavioral-health transport could save Medicaid about 25% of the cost compared with the same patient transported via ambulance.
Committee members questioned training and licensure, handoff procedures, protections for rural areas with long transport times, and whether the bills allow appropriate response when a patient becomes medically unstable. Presenters said the bills require a certified training course for transport personnel, leave room for any provider that meets the safety and training standards to participate, and preserve ambulance use for involuntary or medically unstable patients; physicians would make determinations about medical monitoring needs.
Representatives also asked whether the transports would include restraints or seclusion; presenters said the standards do not allow improper seclusion and that involuntary patients needing restraint would continue to be handled by ambulances and medical teams.
The committee did not take final action on the bills during the hearing; members thanked witnesses and indicated further work with stakeholders would continue.
