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EMS PRO


NAEMT Board Votes to Actively Support New Federal Bills That Support EMS


EMS and healthcare system in the future. EMS is a system in great danger of col- lapse if we don’t make some serious changes to fix it. This is the first bill to seriously look at EMS problems since the 1960s,” she says.


Craig Thomas Rural Hospital and


Provider Equity Act of 2011 Senate bill 1680 was introduced by North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad to pro- vide desperately needed rural ambulance relief. According to the May 2007 GAO report on the costs of providing ambu- lance services, rural ambulance service providers are reimbursed on average 6 percent below the cost of providing ser- vices to Medicare patients.


The NAEMT Board of Directors has voted to actively support two congres- sional bills: H.R. 3144, the Field EMS Quality, Innovation and Cost- Effectiveness Improvement Act, also known as the “Field EMS Bill,” and S. 1680, the Craig Thomas Rural Hospital and Provider Equity Act of 2011. NAEMT wrote to the bill sponsors in Congress to offer its support.


Field EMS Quality, Innovation and


Cost-Effectiveness Improvement Act House bill 3144 was introduced by Minnesota Rep. Timothy Walz, and sponsored by North Carolina Rep. Sue Myrick, to provide a path toward the vision outlined by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) for the provision of EMS in our nation.


In a letter of support to Rep. Walz, NAEMT emphasized how EMS saves lives and is a unique and critical part of the healthcare delivery system. “EMS is a public benefit provided by both govern- mental and nongovernmental providers that citizens assume will always be there to serve them,” the letter noted. The landmark 2006 IOM Report Emergency Medical Services: At the Crossroads identified systemic problems that under-


mine the public trust and reliance upon EMS to protect them in their greatest hour of need.


Today, while fire and police first responders have several targeted federal support programs, there is no dedicated federal funding stream for field EMS responders to ensure their capability to respond to medical emergencies as part of a coordinated emergency care system. In many areas, EMS services are highly fragmented, poorly equipped and insuffi- ciently prepared for day-to-day opera- tions, let alone natural or man-made major disasters.


“H.R. 3144 is the result of collabora- tion between multiple EMS stakeholders and strives to correct some fundamental problems within field EMS (outside the hospital) by finally creating a lead agency to oversee EMS,” says NAEMT President Connie Meyer. “It also provides a mech- anism for grant programs to support field EMS agencies, and state and regional coordination of EMS through state EMS offices, and supports education through grants to EMS educational programs. It is important to remember that the bill addresses multiple problems in EMS, but the first priority will be to educate Congress about what field EMS is, and how it needs to be a viable part of the


Providers in “super rural” areas are reimbursed a staggering 17 percent below their costs. This legislation would tem- porarily correct these problems by extending and raising temporary increas- es for rural providers and extending the bonus payment for “super rural” providers.


NAEMT wrote to Sen. Conrad letting him know that it strongly supports his efforts and those of his fellow Senators Pat Roberts, Tom Harkin and John Barrasso to ensure that rural ambulance service providers receive additional relief immediately so that these providers can continue to furnish high-quality health care to their communities.


“Named for the late Sen. Craig Thomas, S. 1680, known as R-HoPE, expresses the idea that residents of rural and frontier communities should have access to affordable, quality health care. Rural EMS practitioners are the public safety net for their communities, and it is essential that they are able to provide high quality care to their patients. This legislation would improve Medicare reimbursement for the nation’s thou- sands of rural health care providers,” says NAEMT Board member and Advocacy Committee Chair Jim Judge.


NAEMT fully supports passage of these bills, and encourages all EMS pro- fessionals to let their congressional repre- sentatives know that they support these bills. It is critical that they hear from EMS professionals to understand how much these issues matter to EMS. EMS


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