Massachusetts rule prohibiting ambulance diversion does not increase ED wait times

Patient Safety Monitor Alert

December 16, 2009

Massachusetts public health officials have analyzed the state's new policy stipulating that hospitals cannot turn away ambulances and found that emergency department (ED) wait times have not gotten worse, reports The Boston Globe. The practice, called diversion, was allowed in the state until December 2008. Beginning this past January, hospitals had to accept all ambulances. Prior to this hospitals would often turn ambulances away when staff members determined the EDs were overcrowded.

Data analyzed since the new policy began show that wait times have stayed consistent at 75 Massachusetts EDs. The average wait times are still lengthy—an average stay of 2.5 hours for patients not admitted and 5.5 hours for patients who are admitted—but the fact that they did not increase is a sign of better management of patients, reports the Globe. The busiest EDs have had to rethink some of their processes for triaging and assessing patients.