INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WOWO) — Indiana is moving to end routine hospital diversions, a policy change state health officials say will help reduce ambulance delays and improve access to emergency care.
Beginning this September, Indiana will become just the third state in the country to prohibit hospitals from routinely diverting ambulances away from their emergency departments.
The practice became more common during the COVID-19 pandemic as emergency rooms faced increased patient volumes, staffing shortages and limited capacity.
Under the new policy, hospitals will generally be required to continue accepting incoming emergency medical transports, even when their emergency departments are crowded.
There will be limited exceptions.
Hospitals will be allowed to divert ambulances during major disasters or critical infrastructure failures, when accepting additional emergency patients could pose a significant threat to the hospital’s ability to provide care.
State health officials, emergency medical service providers and hospital leaders agreed to the changes.
Supporters say routine diversion can create a chain reaction that affects patients and emergency medical crews across an entire region.
When a hospital is on diversion, an ambulance may have to travel farther to find another emergency department willing to accept the patient.
That can increase transport times and keep ambulance crews tied up for longer periods.
Officials say those delays can be especially problematic at a time when EMS agencies are already dealing with staffing shortages and limited resources.
Instead of resolving overcrowding by sending ambulances elsewhere, the new policy is intended to encourage hospitals and health systems to address capacity problems within their own facilities while maintaining access to emergency transportation.
The change comes after hospital diversions became a more significant issue during the pandemic, when emergency departments across Indiana and the country experienced unprecedented pressure.
State officials say the goal is to create a more predictable emergency-care system in which EMS crews know where they can take patients and patients are not unnecessarily transported past one hospital to reach another.
Indiana will join a small group of states that have moved to eliminate routine hospital ambulance diversions.
The new policy does not mean hospitals will never be able to divert an ambulance.
Instead, diversion will be reserved for extraordinary circumstances, including major disasters and critical failures involving hospital infrastructure.
For Indiana EMS providers, the change is expected to reduce unnecessary travel and allow ambulances to return to service more quickly.
For patients, officials say the policy could mean faster access to emergency departments and less time spent in an ambulance searching for an available hospital.
