What is involved in getting the patient released from the hospital?
There are basically four types of releases from a hospital: general discharge; discharge to a facility of equal or greater care; discharge to a step-down facility; and discharge against medical advice (AMA). With a general discharge, all that is needed is coordination with the sending facility and the family. With a discharge to an equal facility or to a step-down facility, additional steps are required. The doctor at the sending facility must speak to a doctor at the receiving facility who accepts responsibility for the patient and calls admissions for a bed assignment. Admissions will take responsibility for accepting the patient. Sometimes there is difficulty in trying to get the doctors to communicate in a timely fashion. But we can assist in that, to coordinate and facilitate their speaking to each other. If the sending facility will not discharge the patient, we can still transport them AMA. However, it is imperative in that situation that a receiving doctor and facility have agr
