Ridesharing as an Alternative to Ambulance Transport for Voluntary Psychiatric Patients in the Emergency Department.

Introduction: Emergency department (ED) crowding is a growing problem. Psychiatric patients have long ED lengths of stay awaiting placement and transportation to a psychiatric facility after disposition. Methods: Retrospective analysis of length of ED stay after disposition for voluntary psychiatric patients before and after the use of Lyft ridesharing services for inter-facility transport. Results: Using Lyft transport to an outside crisis center shortens time to discharge both statistically and clinically from 113 minutes to 91 minutes (p = 0.028) for voluntary psychiatric patients. Discharge time also decreased for involuntary patients from 146 minutes to 127 minutes (p = 0.0053). Conclusion: Ridesharing services may be a useful alternative to medical transportation for voluntary psychiatric patients.