Healthcare organizations and patient transfers: a transportation industry perspective

A major restructuring is underway in Ontario in the delivery of a wide range of public services, including healthcare, public transit and ambulance services. The resulting trends in these three industries have converged in a number of models for the delivery of non-emergency patient transfers. Hospitals find themselves involved in the business of transportation: engaged in new partnerships, and making new choices, to manage the movement of stable patients between sites, to medical procedures and to return home.