Cleveland hospitals increase capacity, hire additional staff to help end ambulance diversion.

With pressure from EMS to curb ambulance diversion, the four hospital systems serving metropolitan Cleveland have made a pact to bring diversion to an end. The agreement is voluntary, but all sides were determined to make the ban on diversion stick as of mid-February 2016. To get there, the health systems are increasing capacity, adding staff, and taking steps to tackle deeper hospital throughput issues. In 2015, reports noted that University Hospitals logged more than 550 hours on diversion, and MetroHealth closed its doors to new ambulance traffic for more than 400 hours. The Cleveland Clinic went on diversion for only 10 hours last year. To prepare for the ban on diversions, MetroHealth is adding more inpatient and ED beds, and it is also hiring additional staff. University Hospitals is taking similar steps while also building on the success of its medical access clinic, a lower-cost setting where patients can be screened, stabilized, and connected with primary care for future low-acuity needs. Hanging over the effort in Cleveland: Voluntary efforts to ban ambulance diversion in Boston failed repeatedly. However, once regulators mandated a ban on diversion statewide in 2009, the hospitals all fell into line with few signs of any adverse consequences. The city has now operated diversion-free for seven years.