The policy case for designating EMS teams for vulnerable patient populations: Evidence from an intervention in Boston
Abstract This study documents more than five years of analysis that drove the policy case, deployment, and retrospective evaluation for an innovative service model that enables Boston Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to respond quickly and effectively to investigation incidents in an ar...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Springer US
2023
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/150497 |
| _version_ | 1826214146032533504 |
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| author | Brennan, Mark Dyer, Sophia Jonasson, Jonas Salvia, James Segal, Laura Serino, Erin Steil, Justin |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning Brennan, Mark Dyer, Sophia Jonasson, Jonas Salvia, James Segal, Laura Serino, Erin Steil, Justin |
| author_sort | Brennan, Mark |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Abstract
This study documents more than five years of analysis that drove the policy case, deployment, and retrospective evaluation for an innovative service model that enables Boston Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to respond quickly and effectively to investigation incidents in an area of heavy need in Boston. These investigation incidents are typically calls for service from passers-by or other third-party callers requesting that Boston EMS check in on individuals, often those who may appear to have an altered mental status or to be unhoused. First, this study reports the pre-intervention analytics in 2017 that built the policy case for service segmentation, a new Community Assistance Team designated “Squad 80” that primarily responds to investigation incidents in one broad area of the city with high rates of substance abuse and homelessness, helping patients who often refuse ambulance transport connect to social services. Second, this study reports a post-intervention, observational evaluation of its operational advantages and trade-offs. We observe that incidents involving the Community Assistance Team have significantly shorter response times and result in fewer transports to emergency departments than investigation incidents not involving the unit, leading to fewer ambulance unit-hours utilized across the system. This study documents the descriptive analytics that built the successful policy case for a substantive change in the healthcare-delivery supply chain in Boston and how this change offers operational advantages. It is written to be an accessible guide to the analysts and policy makers considering emergency services segmentation, an important frontier in equitable public-service delivery. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:00:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/150497 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:00:32Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | Springer US |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1504972024-01-12T21:31:47Z The policy case for designating EMS teams for vulnerable patient populations: Evidence from an intervention in Boston Brennan, Mark Dyer, Sophia Jonasson, Jonas Salvia, James Segal, Laura Serino, Erin Steil, Justin Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning Sloan School of Management Abstract This study documents more than five years of analysis that drove the policy case, deployment, and retrospective evaluation for an innovative service model that enables Boston Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to respond quickly and effectively to investigation incidents in an area of heavy need in Boston. These investigation incidents are typically calls for service from passers-by or other third-party callers requesting that Boston EMS check in on individuals, often those who may appear to have an altered mental status or to be unhoused. First, this study reports the pre-intervention analytics in 2017 that built the policy case for service segmentation, a new Community Assistance Team designated “Squad 80” that primarily responds to investigation incidents in one broad area of the city with high rates of substance abuse and homelessness, helping patients who often refuse ambulance transport connect to social services. Second, this study reports a post-intervention, observational evaluation of its operational advantages and trade-offs. We observe that incidents involving the Community Assistance Team have significantly shorter response times and result in fewer transports to emergency departments than investigation incidents not involving the unit, leading to fewer ambulance unit-hours utilized across the system. This study documents the descriptive analytics that built the successful policy case for a substantive change in the healthcare-delivery supply chain in Boston and how this change offers operational advantages. It is written to be an accessible guide to the analysts and policy makers considering emergency services segmentation, an important frontier in equitable public-service delivery. 2023-04-18T11:29:29Z 2023-04-18T11:29:29Z 2023-04-12 2023-04-16T03:26:53Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/150497 Brennan, Mark, Dyer, Sophia, Jonasson, Jonas, Salvia, James, Segal, Laura et al. 2023. "The policy case for designating EMS teams for vulnerable patient populations: Evidence from an intervention in Boston." PUBLISHER_CC en https://doi.org/10.1007/s10729-023-09635-6 Creative Commons Attribution http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ The Author(s) application/pdf Springer US Springer US |
| spellingShingle | Brennan, Mark Dyer, Sophia Jonasson, Jonas Salvia, James Segal, Laura Serino, Erin Steil, Justin The policy case for designating EMS teams for vulnerable patient populations: Evidence from an intervention in Boston |
| title | The policy case for designating EMS teams for vulnerable patient populations: Evidence from an intervention in Boston |
| title_full | The policy case for designating EMS teams for vulnerable patient populations: Evidence from an intervention in Boston |
| title_fullStr | The policy case for designating EMS teams for vulnerable patient populations: Evidence from an intervention in Boston |
| title_full_unstemmed | The policy case for designating EMS teams for vulnerable patient populations: Evidence from an intervention in Boston |
| title_short | The policy case for designating EMS teams for vulnerable patient populations: Evidence from an intervention in Boston |
| title_sort | policy case for designating ems teams for vulnerable patient populations evidence from an intervention in boston |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/150497 |
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