Reducing ambulance diversion: a multihospital approach.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of procedures for reducing ambulance diversion in the metropolitan area of Syracuse, New York.

Methods: This was a retrospective review of procedures for reducing ambulance diversion at the system-wide and hospital-specific levels between January 1, 2001, and June 30, 2002. System-wide procedures involved exchange of information concerning diversion.

Utilization and impact of ambulance diversion at the community level.

Objective: To evaluate the utilization and impact of ambulance diversion in the metropolitan area of Syracuse, New York.

Methods: This was a retrospective review of the ambulance diversion system operated by the hospitals of Syracuse, New York. This system allows each emergency department to divert incoming ambulances during periods of extreme overcrowding.

Physician-hospital partnerships: incentive alignment through shared governance within a performance improvement structure.

Background: Producing accessible, appropriate, and accountable medical care that improves the health of the populations served requires collaborative physician-organization relationships within which performance measurement across the continuum of care occurs. Governance and shared responsibility for performance improvement (PI) through organizational structure and process have proven to be particularly complex challenges.

Redesign Of The Pi System: The Health Alliance of Central New York, based in Syracuse, New York, which consists in part of Crouse Hospital; ambulatory medical care sites and physicians; a physician organization, a physician-hospital organization, and an independent practice association; in February 1997 established a plan for a redesign of the PI system.