Executive & Legislative Advocacy
Legislative Advocacy - CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure
On July 27, 2023, Mayor Sylvester Turner hosted CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure and City of Houston’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. David Persse to discuss the Houston Fire Department’s (HFD) Emergency Telehealth and Navigation Program (ETHAN). The program has successfully serviced more than 30,000 City of Houston residents and visitors since its inception in 2014; roughly 15% of all ETHAN patients were serviced away from the emergency department and 9 of every 10 patients avoided using the HFD ambulance for transportation. The program has successfully serviced more than 30,000 City of Houston residents and visitors since its launch in 2014.
ETHAN has garnered local and national recognition as one of the most innovative large-scale telehealth solutions in modern emergency medical services (EMS),) by connecting emergency physicians directly with patients calling 911, and/or diverting non-medical-emergency callers to non-hospital care with no-cost cab transportation. This program allows HFD ambulances to be available for true medical emergencies and reduces, while reducing congestion in local hospital emergency departments.
The ETHAN program has proven to be a safe and successful mobile integrated healthcare EMS program. It has become an integral component within the City of Houston’s healthcare delivery system through patient managed alternate pathways of care in the out-of-hospital setting. This community-based mobile integrated healthcare program promotes equity in all demographic and geographic areas of the City of Houston: 1) Communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 (low-income neighborhoods, minorities, disconnected youth, unemployed veterans and people with disabilities), 2) Negative economic impacted populations and 3) Groups historically and marginalized by health disparities.
TheAdditionally, the ETHAN projectprogram ensures individuals who call 911 with non-emergency complaints will be triaged by telehealth emergency medical physicians who are immediately available and skilled at making rapid triage decisions. Patients who are assessed by an ETHAN physician and confirmed to be non-emergent can be scheduled towith a local Federally Qualified Clinic (FQHC), home care, primary care physician along with arranged transportation by a taxicab, self-transport or can home care with no-transport.
Since its inception, generally 15% of all ETHAN patients were dispositioned or managed away from the emergency department and 9 of every 10 patients avoided using the HFD ambulance for transportation. To date, this no-wait physician virtual visit and healthcare service is provided at No Cost to patients.
Asks of CMS to sustain ETHAN program:
- Encourage and support non-traditional/novel methods of patient care – to include telehealth, treatment in place, alternative transportation.
- Facilitate and encourage commercial payer systems to reimburse for care provided by EMS providers, including treatment in place, etc.
- Encourage development of non-traditional care models beyond the use of ambulance-based care.
Click each graphic below for a full-sized .jpg version
Supporting Documents:
- ETHAN White Paper
August 2019 - ETHAN Operation Report
July 30, 2019 - ETHAN Presentation
August 13, 2019 - COH Health Dept. Letter to US Dept. of HHS
October 5, 2020
Executive Advocacy Links:
- President Joe Biden
- EPA Administrator Michael Regan
- Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg
- Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm
- Labor Secretary Marty Walsh
- Infrastructure Coordinator Mitch Landrieu
- Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clark
- Federal Railroad Administrator Amit Bose
- CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure
Supporting Links: