How/why are patients taken to certain Hospital?

EAS tries to accommodate a patient’s request to a specific hospital, even in cases when the request is to a facility other than the closest ER.  Of course, there are exceptions.  Patients will be transported to a facility (other than the patient’s request) based on several other factors:

• Need for Specialty Center, like a trauma center (critical injuries), stroke center, or STEMI receiving facility (heart attack)
• If patient requests a facility that is on ED diversion due to saturation (overcrowding)
• If the patient is in extremis, like an uncontrolled airway or uncontrolled bleeding, they are always transported to the closest hospital emergency department (ED)