FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
The AATC operates 24/7 as the single point of access for hospitals coordinating patient transports to a facility with specialty services for additional care. The AATC streamlines the transfer process by facilitating physician-to-physician contact, verifying bed availability, coordinating patient transport, and assisting with ongoing follow-up.
Inbound – Run by a large receiving facility that handles all emergent transfer requests. Some facilities handle both emergent and non-emergent transfer requests. Non-emergent transfer requests are normally run by Case Managers.
Outbound – Smaller facilities that utilize their ER Technicians, RN’s, Case Managers or Discharge Planners to place patients at other facilities.
As your single point of contact, the AATC manages both emergent and non-emergent patient transfer requests.
With a single phone call to the AATC, your patient’s placement becomes our priority. By leveraging our technology and extensive databases, your staff regains valuable time to focus efforts on what is most important – patient care. In short, we free your staff from being tied to the phone and dependent upon tribal knowledge of local resources.
The patient’s treating physician determines the level of care the patient needs and patient destination. If a physician does not know where to send the patient, the AATC can provide the physician with a list of facilities that meet his/her needs, starting with the closest available facility that has the specialty services available as required by the patient or based on several other factors as requested by the physician. The AATC adheres to the physician’s declaration of medical necessity to ensure proper levels of care and placement are met.
The AATC does coordinate non-emergent transfers. The AATC can also help with “take back” transfers. Once the patient is stabilized and ready to return to the sending facility, the AATC will help arrange the admitting MD, bed and transportation.