The Curbside Physician: A Clinician-Led Model for Treatment at 911 Call Scenes

SUMMARY: Tele911, Inc.-a clinician-led virtual emergency care organization backed by Takeda Ventures, completed 17,873 field consultations across more than two dozen public safety and emergency medical services (EMS) agencies in California, Texas, Florida, and Maryland between October 2022 and May 2026. Board-certified emergency physicians joined 911 call scenes by secure video from the responding paramedic's tablet computer and, working within locally approved protocols, provided real-time disposition decisions. The average patient was connected to a physician in 37 seconds, the average encounter lasted 7.5 minutes, and approximately 77 percent of encounters ended without ambulance transport to an ED. The key innovation was not telemedicine as a technology but the placement of physician judgment at the emergency scene prior to a decision on ED admission.