Aurora Fire Rescue recently adopted a new response program that integrates telehealth into 911 dispatch, connecting non-emergency medical callers with physicians.

The new service, Aurora Clinical Navigation, uses a platform called MD Ally to connect 911 callers experiencing non-emergency medical issues with a doctor online, Aurora Fire Rescue Deputy Chief Mark Hays said in a presentation to the Public Safety, Courts and Civil Service Policy Committee Thursday.

MD Ally has been live since Feb. 4, Hays said. It is free for callers and services are available in about 250 languages.

Every year, millions of people in the United States call 911 for non-emergency medical conditions, according to Hays’ report on MD Ally.

The average cost of an ambulance ride before insurance is $1,277, Hays said, and the average cost of an emergency room visit is $2,200.

Implementing a system like MD Ally saves patients money and time while taking some strain off of dispatch center staff and decreasing ambulance response times for life-threatening issues, Hays said.

“(Falck) does not have thousands of ambulances just sitting there … they have a finite number,” Hays said. “The more they send on low acuity calls, the less they have available for high acuity calls.”

Callers who get referred to MD Ally are connected via video or phone call with a board certified physician in the United States who can connect callers to mental health or crisis support services, refill patient prescriptions and help treat conditions like mild infections, minor injuries and chronic pain.

In the first week of MD Ally implementation, 23 of 58 calls were diverted to MD Ally, AFR Division Chief Jon Hill said.

“That means there are 23 people who did not get an ambulance bill, did not get an emergency room bill and had their situation handled appropriately to whatever their needs were,” Hill said. “There were 40 hours of apparatus or ambulance use that were not needed and 92 hours of emergency room time avoided.”

Other cities in Florida, Arizona and California have also adopted MD Ally services.

Currently, the contract with MD Ally is for one year, Hays said. The contract cost AFR $270,000, a spokesperson said.

“Everybody’s emergency is an emergency to them, but if we can make sure the car accidents, the strokes, the chest pains, heart attack victims get the quickest response … that’s ultimately the goal,” Hill said.

Aurora Clinical Navigation is another tool AFR has adopted in its Right Response Approach, which the department adopted in 2023 to streamline 911 responses.