Join us for the 2025 Emergency Services Forum, returning to beautiful Newport Beach! This conference is dedicated to the uniqueness of hospital ED management and its intersection with emergency services and the community. We’re finalizing an exceptional lineup of speakers and engaging topics. The 2024 Emergency Services Forum sold out – this is an event you and your colleagues don’t want to miss!
What’s happening: Due to state budget constraints, the state Office of Administrative Law (OAL) has not yet approved the Emergency Medical Services Authority’s (EMSA) Assembly Bill (AB) 40 (2023) regulations for public comment.
What else to know: AB 40 passed in 2023 with the intent of improving long ambulance patient offload times (APOTs). Despite the delay on implementation, CHA continues pursuing opportunities to collaborate with health care partners to improve long APOTs, which affect the entire health care delivery system.
What’s happening: On Dec. 11, the Commission on Emergency Medical Services will convene in San Francisco, where it will discuss an ambulance patient offload time (APOT) report, among other topics.
What else to know: The report in the Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) Commission Meeting Packet includes APOT data by hospital. More details for the in-person meeting can be found on the EMSA web page. See CHA’s APOT issue web page for additional resources.
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What’s happening: CHA has created a new web page that houses all resources related to ambulance patient offload time (APOT) to assist hospitals with Assembly Bill (AB) 40 compliance.
What else to know: CHA plans to regularly update the web page with AB 40 regulation developments, news, advocacy materials, and information on educational events like the next Emergency Services Forum on May 5, 2025.
What’s happening: All hospitals with emergency departments must submit an ambulance patient offload time (APOT) reduction protocol to the Emergency Medical Services Authority to be compliant under Assembly Bill (AB) 40 (2023).
What else to know: CHA recommends submitting the protocol by Sept. 1 directly through email to APOT@emsa.ca.gov.
What’s happening: CHA will host a members-only webinar on The Buffer Zone: A Novel Approach to Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) Surge in the Era of Hospital Crowding on Aug. 26 from 10-11 a.m. (PT). Registration is open.
What else to know: In this session, Scott Goldberg, MD, MPH, medical director of emergency preparedness at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, will highlight the hospital’s experience with developing and implementing buffer zones as part of their institution’s MCI plans and highlight the lessons learned during the operationalization of their buffer zone plan.
Ambulance patient offload times — how long it takes for a patient arriving at a hospital via ambulance to be transferred to an emergency department — are a challenge in many counties in California. Some factors contributing to longer offload times include the physical layout of a hospital, current unprecedented patient volume, increased acuity of patients’ illness or injury, and more. Challenges in the Emergency Department only continue to grow, further straining limited emergency services, and forcing us all to think about how to adapt to a changing world.
This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.
What’s happening: All hospitals with emergency departments must submit ambulance patient offload time (APOT) reduction protocols to the Emergency Medical Services Authority by Sept. 1.
What else to know: To help members meet this requirement, CHA recently held a webinar sharing best practices and guidance from other hospitals that have developed protocols. This new requirement was established by Assembly Bill (AB) 40 (2023). Protocols should be submitted directly through email to APOT@emsa.ca.gov.
As mandated by Assembly Bill 40 (2023), California hospitals must submit Ambulance Patient Offload Time (APOT) Reduction Protocols by September 1, 2024. This Educational Brief will provide you with some best practices from your peers. This presentation reviews key deadlines and requirements and shares Sutter Health’s approach to incorporating APOT protocols into existing procedures.