New hospital not set up to take 911 emergency patients

Bloomington's newest hospital is expected to open Oct. 9, but it could be weeks before ambulances will take emergency room patients through its doors. Monroe Hospital still must negotiate with Bloomington Hospital to determine how 911 calls will be divided, Monroe Hospital CEO Dean Melton said. \n"Our attorneys are attempting to take a more cooperative approach to working with the public officials and Bloomington Hospital and its ambulance service to find a workable solution for the new ambulance service to become a part of the 911 system," Melton said in an e-mail.\nBloomington Hospital Ambulance Services met with the staff at Monroe Hospital Emergency Department "to tour the facility and understand the capabilities they have," Bloomington Hospital Communication Coordinator Amanda Runyon said in an e-mail.\n"Monroe Hospital will need to demonstrate and communicate what Emergency Department services it can provide, in addition to becoming a licensed facility," Runyon said.\nBloomington Hospital was the sole institution for emergency care in the area until now, even drawing patients from nearby Brown and Owen counties, said Capt. Michael Diekhoff of the Central Emergency Dispatch Policy Board. \nMonroe Hospital has engaged TransCare, an independent ambulance service, to act as its ambulance service, but until Bloomington and Monroe hospitals come to an agreement about how 911 calls will be divided, Bloomington Hospital ambulances will be the only 911 patient vehicles. \nThe sole use of Bloomington Hospital's ambulances for local 911 calls is a cause of distress for Monroe Hospital, said attorney Geoffrey Grodner of the law firm Mallor, Clendening, Grodner and Bohrer, which represents Monroe Hospital. \n"There is concern that Bloomington Hospital ambulances will be reluctant to take patients to Monroe Hospital," Grodner said. \nAmbulances are required to take patients to the nearest appropriate hospital in a life-threatening situation, Melton said. \n"(But) if it is not a life-threatening situation, the patient can direct the ambulance to which emergency room they want to be taken to and the ambulance must take them there," Melton said. "Absent either of these situations, the ambulance can go where they choose."\nTo become part of the county's 911 emergency response system, Monroe Hospital -- an investor-supported hospital that boasts 32 private rooms -- must work with Bloomington Hospital to create a system for deciding which patients will be taken to which hospital, Diekhoff said. \n"Bloomington Hospital originally set its own protocols for how its districts would be set up," Diekhoff said. "If and when (Monroe Hospital's plan to become part of the 911 service) comes to fruition, the hospitals will come up with new protocols and bring them to us to implement." \nMelton said in an e-mail that Monroe Hospital is open to a "cooperative, collaborative relationship" with Bloomington Hospital, citing a desire to develop an open working relationship between the two. \nOnce the two hospitals come to an agreement, the process will still be far from over, Diekhoff said. The Central Emergency Dispatch Policy Board will have to make changes to its own system to facilitate the new system, he said. \n"We have to go into computer system and recode everything to determine what areas Monroe and Bloomington will each take," Diekhoff said, adding that the process could take several weeks.\nInitially, Monroe Hospital officials suggested dividing the two hospitals' territories by Indiana State Road 37, Diekhoff said. But this plan was not practical because Bloomington Hospital ambulances have a contract to serve Ellettsville, and such a boundary would put the area in Monroe Hospital's district, he said. \n"Monroe Hospital's suggestion that the county be divided in some manner along geographic lines is an attempt to offer a logical solution to where each of the ambulance services are dispatched," Melton said in an e-mail. "In a life-threatening situation, it would not make sense to send TransCare on a run to the east side of Bloomington if the (Bloomington Hospital ambulance service) is available, and vice versa." \nThe next opportunity for the Central Emergency Dispatch Policy Board to discuss incorporating Monroe Hospital into the emergency dispatch system will be at its next meeting on Oct. 31, Diekhoff said. Dietkhoff could not say whether Monroe and Bloomington Hospital will have determined districts by then. \n"My hope is that (Monroe Hospital officials) realize that this is not something you can just come in and make a snap decision about," Diekhoff said.