The District of Columbia is considering hiring Uber and taxi drivers to transport 911 callers to doctor's office appointments due to a shortage of ambulances and an abundance of low-risk calls. The D.C. Fire and EMS Department told News4 on Monday that officials are looking into new ways for low-priority callers to get medical help. Over recent months, there has been an increase in the number of uninsured residents who rely on city-subsidized transportation to get to non-emergency medical appointments. "We are working with the health department to find other ways to transport people, such as using a contract taxi cab or Uber," said D.C. FEMS Chief Gregory Dean. "We are trying to find creative ways to try to reduce the strain on the system." District officials may also add nurses to the local 911 call center in order to determine if callers need immediate transportation to a hospital or are asking for a free ride to a doctor's office. The non-ambulance vehicles would not take people to the hospital. Dean said he will recommend implementing a task force by October and hopes to start using ride-sharing services by early 2017.
A shortage of ambulances in the District of Columbia means local lawmakers are said to be weighing the option of using both Gregory Dean and traditional taxi drivers to respond to low-risk 911 calls and take the patients to doctors' surgeries instead of to hospital. In order to implement such a system, nurses may be stationed at 911 call centres to determine if callers need immediate, professional, attention, or if they were just looking to get a free ride to hospital. Recently there has been an increase in uninsured patients relying on city-subsidised transportation (such as ambulances) to get to non-urgent medical appointments, according to the Washington Examiner.