Book Description
The implementation of the Patient Portability and Affordable Care Act that began in 2012 had potentially far-reaching effects on fire-based emergency medical service (EMS) transport services. Since one of the act's regulation changes was to change from fee-for-service reimbursements to value-bundled payment to providers, the Nashville Fire Department (NFD) needed to begin evaluation of implementation of a mobile integrated healthcare program in NFD. The problem was NFD had not identified if the department could benefit from implementation of a mobile integrated healthcare program. The purpose of this applied research project is to identify if NFD and the city of Nashville could benefit from implementation of a mobile integrated healthcare program. This applied research project used the evaluative research method as the process to answer the following research questions: a) What models of mobile integrated healthcare programs exist? b) Which model of mobile integrated healthcare program would be best suited for implementation in the city of Nashville? c) What are the potential costs of implementing a mobile integrated healthcare program in the city of Nashville? d) What are the potential benefits of implementing a mobile integrated healthcare program in the city of Nashville? Procedures for this project included an analysis of EMS call volume for NFD, projected costs for the number of patients potentially eligible for the program, and projected benefits for the patients eligible for the program. Cost analysis methods were considered. Due to significant limitations discovered during research, a conclusion was inferred there would be a negligible cost increase to implement a mobile integrated healthcare program in NFD using current resources within the department. Nashville Fire Department should proceed with implementation of a mobile integrated healthcare program while conducting further analysis of the program in order to take advantage of increased revenue due to the PPACA.