Mobile Launches New Program to Reduce Non-Emergency Ambulance Calls
By Rick McCann
Blue RAM Media/Gulf Coast News
October 21, 2025
MOBILE, Ala. In a first of its kind, the City of Mobile is launching a new pilot program to reduce the number of ambulance transports to area hospitals that are funded by taxpayers.
Every year, hundreds of people make non-priority and unnecessary 911 calls requesting ambulances for minor medical needs or mental health issues.
The cost of those transports tops more than $1 million annually.
New data shows that last year, 70 people in Mobile took an ambulance to the hospital 10 or more times. In some cases, people call multiple times a day – not necessarily for medical emergencies but for mental health issues.
Mobile’s EMS system operates ambulances at the paramedic level within the fire department and contracts a private ambulance service to respond to lower priority calls.
When an ambulance is being used to transport a patient with non-medical, or extremely minor medical needs to a hospital, it could keep that ambulance out of service and unable to respond to a higher level emergency for an hour or more which can sometimes slow down the response to that emergency as an ambulance from a different part of the city may have to respond taking them a longer response time.
Now, the top 50 frequent 911 callers will receive iPads, giving them a direct, 24/7 video connection to AltaPointe clinicians, who can address their mental health needs in hopes of reducing non-emergency 911 calls.
“Sometimes it’s as small as you know, trying to decide what to have for dinner or not having anything to have for dinner. And we can send someone out and help them with that, rather than having to use an ambulance to transport them to a hospital to get a meal,” said Dr. Cindy Gipson, AltaPointe Crisis and Justice-Involved Services Director.
Gipson says the iPads only have one app on them to make video calls with AltaPointe, and you can’t download anything else to them. Gipson says a third-party company is supplying the tech for a six-month pilot program that will begin within the next 30 days.
“I think it will reduce some of our call volume and the need to transport patients directly to the hospital,” said Mobile Fire-Rescue Interim Chief Barry Glisson. “We’re going to collect data throughout the six-month pilot to determine its effectiveness,” said Gipson. “I think it will reduce some of our call volume and the need to transport patients directly to the hospital,” said Mobile Fire-Rescue Interim Chief Barry Glisson.
Glisson says the highest number of transports to the hospital for one single patient so far this year is 165, compared to 194 for the same time period last year. The cost of that adds up quickly. So far this year, it’s cost Mobile $565,380 to take 40 repeat callers to the hospital 10 or more times. It hasn’t received even half that back in reimbursements from insurance. Last year during the same time period, it cost the city $1,038,416 to take 70 patients 10 or more times to the hospital, and the city was only reimbursed $468,131.
Glisson said that regardless of a person’s situation, the fire department-EMS services have a duty to respond to all 911 calls.
“The biggest issue is making sure that we get a unit there in a timely fashion. So, if we’re constantly running on a repeat patient, that’s going to reduce our availability to respond to a different location where there might be another emergency,” said Glisson.
And when it’s not a true emergency, they hope the repeat callers pick up their new iPad for help.
“Because it is a huge drain on resources and a lot of that comes out of taxpayer funds, because a lot of the folks who are those sorts of high utilizers of service don’t have insurance,” said Gipson.
AltaPoine has already equipped some Mobile police officers with iPads to virtually connect clinicians to people who previously might have been arrested for a petty crime like loitering, and Gipson says 72% of those individuals are brought to the crisis center for help by law enforcement, instead of going to jail.
Nationwide, a significant portion of 911 calls and ambulance dispatches are for non-emergencies, which drives up costs for taxpayers who fund these services.
A recent estimate of the annual nationwide cost of low-priority, non-emergent ambulance transports has been estimated to be in the multi-million dollar range.
Because of reductions in manpower, shortages of ambulances, and an overwhelming number of 911 calls for ambulances by the same persons who do not have a medical emergency, some cities have issued vouchers for free taxi or Uber rides to the hospitals or area clinics.
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