— Maryland emergency medical officials are urging EMS clinicians to consider returning non-critical patients to hospitals where they were recently treated, a move aimed at improving continuity of care and easing overcrowding in emergency departments.
In a memo dated Jan. 26, 2026, the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems advised clinicians to ask patients whether they have been admitted to a hospital within the past 30 days if their condition does not require time-critical intervention. If so, providers are encouraged to make reasonable efforts to transport those patients back to the same facility, provided it does not add more than 30 minutes of additional transport time.
State EMS officials said the guidance is not a mandate and does not override clinical judgment or existing destination protocols…