INTER-FACILITY PATIENT TRANSFER NETWORKS

ON-DEMAND TRANSPORT FOR PATIENT REFERRALS

Beacon helps you coordinate patient referrals between facilities and save time

An efficient and reliable inter-facility transfer network has three basic elements:

1. RIGHT PATIENT

2. RIGHT VEHICLE

3. RIGHT FACILITY

Beacon ensures all three elements are coordinated as efficiently as possible, allowing doctors and healthcare administrators to more effectively allocate resources for patient referrals at all times.

HOW IT WORKS

INTER-FACILITY TRANSFERS

1. DECISION

The decision to refer an acute patient to a higher-level facility is made by a doctor.

2. REQUEST

Hospital staff calls the referral network call center to request a transport vehicle.

3. ALERT

A dispatcher takes the patient’s information and sends it out as a text message to all available vehicles through Beacon.

4. CONFIRMATION

Beacon selects the nearest and most appropriate vehicle of those replying to the alert.

5. PICK-UP

The patient’s pick-up location is shared with the responding vehicle and arrival on-scene is confirmed via Beacon.

6. DELIVERY

The patient is transferred to an appropriate facility; advanced notification is sent to the receiving hospital pre-departure and/or pre-arrival.

CASE STUDY

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

In October 2014, the first Beacon incident was dispatched by the Manzanillo Fire Department in the northwest corner of the Dominican Republic for a woman with a complicated delivery who needed to be transported to a facility with higher care 30 minutes north. Since then Beacon has been used to request and coordinate transport for hundreds of patients between more than 10 facilities using (pictured at right). The majority of these patients have been for obstetrical complications, but also regularly include referrals for orthopedic injuries and infectious disease cases like cholera, dengue and malaria. Also included here are the vehicles used as part of the overall referral network.