Zero Adverse Patient Outcomes in Niagara’s Taxi/EMS service
New program saves $400,000, “improves patient experience”
Two years after the program started, Taxi support for Niagara Region’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) has functioned without a single Adverse Patient Outcome, says its founding commander.
“It is not a statistic we have reported to Council or published in any way, actually,” Marty Mako, Commander of Niagara’s Mobile Integrated Health/EMS told Taxi News on January 10th.
Photo: Niagara Public Health Committee
“The anniversary of the launch of the program was December 31st 2023, so I guess we can now officially say that in the two years the program has operated, we have not experienced a single Adverse Patient Outcome.”
Adding Taxicabs to the options for patient transportation has saved Niagara Region approximately $400,000 over the past two years.
In the Niagara program, Taxis are booked through Niagara EMS staff who have determined that Taxi medical transportation in a particular situation is safe, and the client is eligible to use it. Individuals cannot call 911 and request a taxi.
“This service is used only when patients have been fully assessed and triaged by Niagara EMS, it has been determined they do not require further treatment by a paramedic, and transport to their healthcare destination is the only barrier to seeking medical care,” Mako told the Public Health Committee in 2022.
During the pilot period of the program, Niagara’s Central Taxi has been the sole supplier of Taxi services. As the program moves into its third year, a Request for Quotations is being sent out to additional Taxi companies which meet Niagara’s criteria. Firms which hope to bid must be operational 24 hours per, 365 days per year; have the ability to provide service within all 12 Niagara local municipalities; the ability to dispatch accessible taxis; and an online booking portal/mobile app with an ability to track taxi bookings in real time.
Sending select passengers to hospital by Taxi rather than by ambulance is saving Niagara approximately $1000 per trip. In the two years of the program’s existence, Niagara saved approximately $400,000 in transportation expenses on an investment of only $20,000, a return on investment of 2000 per cent.
“Yes, the new system has saved about $400,000,” Mako points out, “but even more importantly, I think, is the improved patient experience. We have ambulance situations in which patients are kept waiting for hours at the hospital to be attended when in most of the Taxi situations that does not need to happen. In those cases, EVERYONE is better served: the patient, the hospital, and the driver.
“Our mobile integrated health approach is about getting patients the right care, at the right place, at the right time. I feel like our taxi service program is helping us meet that goal.”
