Purpose-Built Behavioral Ambulances Expand to Southern New Mexico
8.15.2025
The New Mexico SwiftLink Behavioral Ambulance Service moves mental-health patients safely to inpatient behavioral-health facilities, reducing strain on 911 fleets.
Every year, more than 20% of adults in the United States grapple with mental health challenges, yet over 122 million Americans live in officially designated Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas. In New Mexico, 28 out of 33 counties fall into this category, leaving nearly 845,000 people—almost 40% of the state’s population—hours from specialized inpatient care. As a result, local 911 ambulances are often diverted from their communities for hours to transport patients long distances for treatment, stretching emergency resources desperately needed for time sensitive crises closer to home. This distance places significant strain on community hospitals, which bridge the gap for patients in urgent need.
To close that distance, New Mexico SwiftLink Behavioral Ambulance Service — a collaboration between Hospital Services Corporation (HSC), Global Medical Response (GMR) and its ground-care organization American Medical Response (AMR) — announce its interfacility transport network is now available in Central and Southern New Mexico and plans to reach Northern New Mexico in early October. The program keeps overstretched local 911 fleets in their home counties, while NM SwiftLink’s specially trained crews, versed in de-escalation and trauma-informed care, move patients swiftly and safely to inpatient behavioral-health facilities best equipped to meet their needs.
“Rural hospitals asked for help, and we listened,” said Erika Campos, President of Hospital Services Corporation and co-applicant of the Rural Health Care Delivery Fund grant that launched NM SwiftLink. “When an emergency department becomes the only ‘waiting room’ for a mental health patient, everyone loses time and dignity. NM SwiftLink lets clinicians say, 'the ambulance is on its way,’ instead of ‘try another city’ — and it’s already getting patients to treatment hours sooner.”
Launched as a pilot in Central New Mexico earlier this year, NM SwiftLink has already completed more than 250 transfers covering 50,000 -miles, trimming average hand-off times by several hours. Every inpatient behavioral health hospital statewide now accepts NM SwiftLink transports, and rural facilities from Portales to Gallup and Lovington to Silver City can request service through Transportation Management System Transport.net, an online trip-coordination platform.
“Rural communities and their hospitals have faced ongoing challenges with behavioral health ambulance transports for years,” said Joaquín Graham, AMR West Region Vice President of Operations. “NM SwiftLink is helping to change that in New Mexico. It delivers care faster while allowing local ambulances to remain available for critical emergencies like heart attacks, shootings, and serious crashes close to home.”
How SwiftLink works
NM SwiftLink’s expansion offers a scalable blueprint for other rural states grappling with ambulance shortages and mental health provider deserts. By decoupling long-distance behavioral transfers from local 911 systems, New Mexico is proving that targeted assets, real-time data and cross-sector collaboration can restore emergency department capacity and move patients to definitive care faster. If replicated nationally, the model could help thousands of hospitals free up critical beds and reduce the need for long-distance emergency transfers — while giving millions of Americans improved access for timely mental health treatment.
To close that distance, New Mexico SwiftLink Behavioral Ambulance Service — a collaboration between Hospital Services Corporation (HSC), Global Medical Response (GMR) and its ground-care organization American Medical Response (AMR) — announce its interfacility transport network is now available in Central and Southern New Mexico and plans to reach Northern New Mexico in early October. The program keeps overstretched local 911 fleets in their home counties, while NM SwiftLink’s specially trained crews, versed in de-escalation and trauma-informed care, move patients swiftly and safely to inpatient behavioral-health facilities best equipped to meet their needs.
“Rural hospitals asked for help, and we listened,” said Erika Campos, President of Hospital Services Corporation and co-applicant of the Rural Health Care Delivery Fund grant that launched NM SwiftLink. “When an emergency department becomes the only ‘waiting room’ for a mental health patient, everyone loses time and dignity. NM SwiftLink lets clinicians say, 'the ambulance is on its way,’ instead of ‘try another city’ — and it’s already getting patients to treatment hours sooner.”
Launched as a pilot in Central New Mexico earlier this year, NM SwiftLink has already completed more than 250 transfers covering 50,000 -miles, trimming average hand-off times by several hours. Every inpatient behavioral health hospital statewide now accepts NM SwiftLink transports, and rural facilities from Portales to Gallup and Lovington to Silver City can request service through Transportation Management System Transport.net, an online trip-coordination platform.
“Rural communities and their hospitals have faced ongoing challenges with behavioral health ambulance transports for years,” said Joaquín Graham, AMR West Region Vice President of Operations. “NM SwiftLink is helping to change that in New Mexico. It delivers care faster while allowing local ambulances to remain available for critical emergencies like heart attacks, shootings, and serious crashes close to home.”
How SwiftLink works
- Dedicated assets: Two fully staffed ambulances — scaling to three — stand by exclusively for behavioral health transfers.
- Network of ambulance providers: Local ambulance services across the state are given the option to participate as network providers and perform transports from their home areas based on their real-time availability and capacity
- Data-driven dispatch: Hospitals submit requests on a transportation management system (Transport.net), which matches each trip to a NM SwiftLink crew, or a pre-credentialed independent provider best positioned for rapid pickup.
- System-wide visibility: Centralized trip data allows continuous performance monitoring, helping planners spot demand trends and eliminate bottlenecks while maintaining strict protections for patient privacy and confidentiality in accordance with all applicable regulations.
- Specialized training: Paramedics and EMTs complete additional coursework in de-escalation, trauma-informed care and suicide-prevention protocols to ensure dignified, clinically appropriate transport.
NM SwiftLink’s expansion offers a scalable blueprint for other rural states grappling with ambulance shortages and mental health provider deserts. By decoupling long-distance behavioral transfers from local 911 systems, New Mexico is proving that targeted assets, real-time data and cross-sector collaboration can restore emergency department capacity and move patients to definitive care faster. If replicated nationally, the model could help thousands of hospitals free up critical beds and reduce the need for long-distance emergency transfers — while giving millions of Americans improved access for timely mental health treatment.
