The Nurses in 911 (NI911) Grant Program enacted by SB21-156 provides funding to help implement a program that allows emergency medical service providers to adopt protocols and strategies to triage patients and redirect non-emergency patients to healthcare settings other than an emergency department.
Eligibility
Applicants must be publicly funded 911 answering points equipped and staffed on a 24-hour basis to receive and process 911 calls.
Allowable Use
The program funds may be used to help divert incoming 911 calls that do not require emergency medical service to other types of medical care.
Annual Report
- 2023 Nurse Intake of 911 Calls Pilot Program Year One Update, September 1, 2023
- Executive Summary 2023
- Addressing healthcare affordability, particularly through elimination of avoidable healthcare costs, is a priority for the state of Colorado.
- In June 2021, the Colorado State Legislature passed and the Governor subsequently signed SB 21-156, Nurse Intake of 911 Calls Pilot Program, authorizing and instructing the Colorado Department of Public Safety, Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management to initiate a two-year pilot program to study the impact of nurse-based screening on 911 EMS calls.
- Global Medical Response is the selected vendor of this service, known as Nurse Navigation.
- The study selected four sites:
- City of Aurora (population 386,000; density 4,167 per sq mi), part of the Denver-Aurora Urban Area as defined by the Colorado State Demography Office 2
- City of Pueblo (population 121,000; density 2,205 per sq mi), designated as the Pueblo, CO UA per SDO 2
- Fremont County (population 49,000; density 32 per sq mi), Non-Urban Area per SDO 2
- Teller County (25,000; density 44 per sq mi), Non-Urban Area per SDO 2
- The first-year results suggest:
- Nurse Navigation can be highly successful in large, dense Urban Areas
- Nurse Navigation has the potential to be successful in smaller Urban Areas
- Nurse Navigation is not likely to be successful in rural (non-Urban Areas)