{"id":5913,"date":"2009-02-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-01T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icesontario.wpengine.com\/journal-articles\/inter-facility-patient-transfers-in-ontario-do-you-know-what-your-local-ambulance-is-being-used-for\/"},"modified":"2023-06-14T19:29:30","modified_gmt":"2023-06-14T23:29:30","slug":"inter-facility-patient-transfers-in-ontario-do-you-know-what-your-local-ambulance-is-being-used-for","status":"publish","type":"journal_article","link":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/publications\/journal-articles\/inter-facility-patient-transfers-in-ontario-do-you-know-what-your-local-ambulance-is-being-used-for\/","title":{"rendered":"Inter-facility patient transfers in Ontario: Do you know what your local ambulance is being used for?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Background<\/strong> &#x2014; Little is known about inter-facility patient transfers in populations. In 2003, detailed information about inter-facility patient transfers began to be systematically collected in Ontario.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Methodology<\/strong> &#x2014; The authors undertook a descriptive examination of inter-facility patient transfers using a newly created population-based information system.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Results<\/strong> &#x2014; Approximately 1,000 inter-facility patient transfers occur in Ontario each day, and every day and a half, the total distance travelled for these transfers equals the distance around the earth&apos;s circumference. The annual cost for patient transfers is approximately &#x24;283 million. Most common were routine and non-urgent inter-facility patient transfers. Eighty-five thousand patients (24.3% of transferred patients) were transported between healthcare facilities for dialysis appointments, appointments with physicians and return trips home. Patients with circulatory conditions were the most commonly transferred diagnostic group. Although 70% of all transfers were within 25 kilometres, some were for longer distances: for example, those involving pregnant women and newborn babies required travelling a median distance of 40.3 kilometres for continued care. Cardiac patients (54,000 patient transfers per year) travelled a median of 24.2 kilometres to reach a catheterization lab for treatment and further investigation. There was considerable lateral movement between academic health sciences centres (AHSCs). Over 16,000 patients per year (4.7% of all transfers) were transferred from one AHSC to another, predominantly for cardiac care.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Discussion<\/strong> &#x2014; Patients in Ontario are often transferred between healthcare facilities. Most transfers are for routine, non-life-threatening reasons, using the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system. This practice diverts resources from more emergent requests. Although patient transportation is a necessary part of any healthcare system, the results of this study highlight the current demands on a system that was not intended for the volume of inter-facility patient transfers it is supporting. These results call into question the use of sophisticated, highly trained, expensive patient transfer resources to provide routine medical services in Ontario.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Background &#x2014; Little is known about inter-facility patient transfers in populations. In 2003, detailed information about inter-facility patient transfers began to be systematically collected in Ontario. Methodology &#x2014; The authors undertook a descriptive examination of inter-facility patient transfers using a newly created population-based information system. Results &#x2014; Approximately 1,000 inter-facility patient transfers occur in Ontario [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","migration-helper-automated":[],"migration-manual":[],"topic":[61,62],"migration-helper-qa-sample-set":[],"class_list":["post-5913","journal_article","type-journal_article","status-publish","hentry","topic-health-economics","topic-health-services-research"],"acf":{"citation":"Robinson V, Goel V, Macdonald RD, Manuel D. <em>Healthc Policy<\/em>. 2009; 4(3): 53-66.","source_url":"http:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC2653709\/","ices_scientist":[1253,1323],"site":[6734,6735],"research_program":[],"news_release":[7877],"journal_article":[],"atlas":[],"research_report":[],"infographic":[],"video":[],"downloads":null,"links":null,"sitecore_item_id":"9B5BEA6C-0ED8-4F15-8B4A-344351B87ABE","sitecore_item_name":"Inter-facility-patient-transfers-in-Ontario-do-you-know-what-your-local-ambulance-is-being-used-for","sitecore_field_values":"{\n  \"Content\": null,\n  \"Title\": \"Inter-facility patient transfers in Ontario: Do you know what your local ambulance is being used for?\",\n  \"Short title\": \"Inter-facility patient transfers\",\n  \"Citation\": \"<p>Robinson V, Goel V, Macdonald RD, Manuel D. <em>Healthc Policy<\/em>. 2009; 4(3): 53-66.<\/p>\",\n  \"Abstract\": \"<p><strong>Background<\/strong> &mdash; Little is known about inter-facility patient transfers in populations. In 2003, detailed information about inter-facility patient transfers began to be systematically collected in Ontario.<\/p>n<p><strong>Methodology<\/strong> &mdash; The authors undertook a descriptive examination of inter-facility patient transfers using a newly created population-based information system.<\/p>n<p><strong>Results<\/strong> &mdash; Approximately 1,000 inter-facility patient transfers occur in Ontario each day, and every day and a half, the total distance travelled for these transfers equals the distance around the earth's circumference. The annual cost for patient transfers is approximately $283 million. Most common were routine and non-urgent inter-facility patient transfers. Eighty-five thousand patients (24.3% of transferred patients) were transported between healthcare facilities for dialysis appointments, appointments with physicians and return trips home. Patients with circulatory conditions were the most commonly transferred diagnostic group. Although 70% of all transfers were within 25 kilometres, some were for longer distances: for example, those involving pregnant women and newborn babies required travelling a median distance of 40.3 kilometres for continued care. Cardiac patients (54,000 patient transfers per year) travelled a median of 24.2 kilometres to reach a catheterization lab for treatment and further investigation. There was considerable lateral movement between academic health sciences centres (AHSCs). Over 16,000 patients per year (4.7% of all transfers) were transferred from one AHSC to another, predominantly for cardiac care.<\/p>n<p><strong>Discussion<\/strong> &mdash; Patients in Ontario are often transferred between healthcare facilities. Most transfers are for routine, non-life-threatening reasons, using the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system. This practice diverts resources from more emergent requests. Although patient transportation is a necessary part of any healthcare system, the results of this study highlight the current demands on a system that was not intended for the volume of inter-facility patient transfers it is supporting. These results call into question the use of sophisticated, highly trained, expensive patient transfer resources to provide routine medical services in Ontario.<\/p>n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC2653709\/\" title=\"External link to full text article\">View full text<\/a><\/p>\",\n  \"Keywords\": \"{BF257859-BB36-4998-9437-254B8B142BE4}|{216EF22D-6153-47E4-8EEC-CF06A9D9D954}|{5B386094-8417-4B93-9D08-2F46BC0458AB}\",\n  \"Related Products\": \"<h2>News Release<\/h2>rn<h3><a href=\"~\/link.aspx?_id=3B9CF53EB584436B90876ADD2DDA507F&amp;_z=z\">Eight out of 10 patient transfers between Ontario healthcare facilities found to be &ldquo;routine and non-urgent&rdquo;<\/a><\/h3>\",\n  \"Research Programs\": \"{5B1AF319-EC9B-4BF0-A9CD-D066ABE49D71}\",\n  \"ICES Locations\": \"{0AD77E2C-C883-4E93-8B9A-40B82D50E3A5}|{FBE2D1B1-C0BA-423F-8D16-39466B6C1424}\",\n  \"ICES Scientists\": \"{4BF52DAD-DEB2-4DEE-9C76-F4EFADDD454A}|{3178B170-580F-4CCA-A2D4-687D1150C87C}\",\n  \"Posted Date\": \"20090201T000000\"\n}","previous_url":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/Publications\/Journal-Articles\/2009\/January\/Inter-facility-patient-transfers-in-Ontario-do-you-know-what-your-local-ambulance-is-being-used-for"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>ICES | Inter-facility patient transfers in Ontario: Do you know what your local ambulance is being used for?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Background &#x2014; Little is known about inter-facility patient transfers in populations. 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