EMS.gov Webinar | EMS Harm Reduction and SUD Treatment

Written by AAA Staff on March 15, 2024. Posted in Operations, Patient Care, Webinars.

WEBINAR

EMS Harm Reduction and SUD Treatment

Hosted by NHTSA’s Office of EMS on March 22 at 2 PM ET / 11 AM PT

According to the National Harm Reduction Coalition, “harm reduction is a set of practical strategies and ideas aimed at reducing negative consequences associated with drug use.” This can include improving access to naloxone (Narcan) to prevent death from opioid overdose, providing sterile syringes to reduce the spread of HIV and hepatitis C, and fentanyl testing programs, among other types of help.

EMS clinicians are often on the frontline of addiction and the unintended consequences of both legal and illicit drug use and substance use disorder (SUD). In addition, drug use greatly impacts the larger context of our nation’s roads and highways through impaired driving and the resulting risks to the impaired driver, other drivers, passengers, bicyclists, and pedestrians. A 2022 NHTSA study of seven trauma centers around the U.S. found that nearly 56% of people injured or killed on roadways tested positive for one or more drugs, including alcohol. The most prevalent drug category was cannabis, and opioids made up 8.5% of cases at the trauma centers.

In this EMS Focus webinar, panelists will discuss:

Harm reduction and SUD treatment in the context of EMS care
Recent research
How innovation and intervention can drive overdose prevention in your community and reduction of other health risks, including traffic crashes that may be a result of impaired driving

REGISTER NOW

Panelists Include:

Kate Elkins, Emergency Medical Services/911 Specialist, NHTSA’s Office of EMS (moderator)
Gerard Carroll, M.D., EMS Medical Director, Cooper University Health Care; Division Head of EMS/Disaster Medicine; and Program Director, EMS Fellowship Program
John Ehrhart, Paramedic; EMS Manager, San Diego Health Connect; Co-Founder, California Paramedic Foundation; and Founder, Mission Critical Protocols
Simon Taxel, Paramedic Crew Chief and Public Safety Diver, Pittsburgh Bureau of EMS; Bloomberg Fellow, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

About EMS Focus

EMS Focus provides a venue to discuss crucial initiatives, issues and challenges for EMS stakeholders and leaders nationwide. Be sure to visit ems.gov for information about upcoming webinars and to view past recordings.

We are committed to providing equal access to this webinar for all participants. Persons with disabilities in need of an accommodation should contact nhtsa.ems@dot.gov to request an accommodation no later than Friday, March 15, 2024.

Sign up to receive the latest news from the Office of EMS, including webinars, newsletters and industry updates.

Contact Us

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
nhtsa.ems@dot.gov

Flash Poll | Uncompensated Care in EMS

Written by Matt Zavadsky on March 14, 2024. Posted in Patient Care, Reimbursement.

The growing EMS economic crisis is a combination of expense increases for service delivery AND the reimbursement for services provided.

One of the major factors in the revenue gap for EMS as a safety-net healthcare provider is the percentage of patients who cannot pay for their EMS care due to lack of insurance, meaning the patient is responsible for reimbursing the cost of EMS care.

To help NAEMT, AIMHI, and other associations develop communication strategies regarding public policy to address rising levels of uncompensated care, we are asking EMS agencies to help quantify the level of uncompensated care in their agency.

You can participate in the FLASH POLL through the on-line link here:

Complete Online Survey

For your planning purposes, we’re including the questions on the poll below, so you know in advance what the questions are…

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) defines uncompensated care as “Health care or services provided by hospitals or health care providers that don’t get reimbursed. Often uncompensated care arises when people don’t have insurance and cannot afford to pay the cost of care.”

https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/uncompensated-care/

Using this definition, we’d like to seek your input on the following six data points related to your level of uncompensated care.

	2019	2021	2023
% of your billable services that were billed to patients as the primary payer. (Often referred to as “Self-Pay”, or “Private-Pay”, or “Uninsured”)
Average dollar amount reimbursed *per service* for this payer classification.
Your Average Patient Charge.

Agency Name:

Name and E-Mail Address of Respondent:

Service Type:

911/Emergency Only
Primarily 911 with Some Inter-Facility
Primarily Inter-Facility with some 911
Inter-Facility Only

Agency Type:

Private (including private, nonprofit)
3^rd Service Governmental
Hospital-Based
Fire-Based
Public Utility Model
Other

Primary Service Area State:

Annual Response Volume:

1 – 1,000
1,000 – 10,000
10,000 – 25,000
25,000 – 50,000
50,000 – 75,000
75,000 – 100,000
Over 100,000

GoAERO Competition + Informational Webinar Details

Written by AAA Staff on March 13, 2024. Posted in News, Operations, Patient Care, Press.

From GoAEROprize.com

Heroes who look past danger to help people in need,

Heroes to step in to be the difference between triumph and tragedy,

And Heroes who use their minds to create technology that saves lives.

We need those Heroes.

GoAERO is offering $2+ Million in prizes for the best thinkers, creators and inventors to build Emergency Response Flyers and stretch and challenge their minds to unlock a new era of disaster and rescue response.

By unleashing the power of autonomy, speed, and precision, GoAERO is looking for the brightest, boldest and bravest to change the way we rescue and respond to disaster.

This is your chance to make history and save lives.

Register for Informational Webinars

Tuesday, March 19th, 3pm PT/ 6pm ET: https://shorturl.at/fvCG5

GoAERO Competition + Informational Webinar Details

Written by AAA Staff on February 22, 2024. Posted in News, Operations, Patient Care, Press.

From GoAEROprize.com

Heroes who look past danger to help people in need,

Heroes to step in to be the difference between triumph and tragedy,

And Heroes who use their minds to create technology that saves lives.

We need those Heroes.

By unleashing the power of autonomy, speed, and precision, GoAERO is looking for the brightest, boldest and bravest to change the way we rescue and respond to disaster.

This is your chance to make history and save lives.

Register for Informational Webinars

Thursday, February 29th, 6am PT/ 9am ET: https://shorturl.at/rtOS0
Tuesday, March 19th, 3pm PT/ 6pm ET: https://shorturl.at/fvCG5

Webcast | Evolving FirstNet for America’s First Responders

Written by Amanda Riordan on February 12, 2024. Posted in Operations, Patient Care.

Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024 | 10:30 a.m. ET

The First Responder Network Authority will be launching the next phase of the FirstNet network in partnership with its network contractor, AT&T. The webcast will unveil major upgrades planned for FirstNet, driven by public safety’s needs.

Register below for the webcast, and join us on February 13 to hear from public safety officials and leaders from the FirstNet Authority and AT&T as they announce enhancements planned for FirstNet.

HHS/ASPR Project ECHO Clinical Readiness Rounds are Returning

Written by AAA Staff on February 7, 2024. Posted in Patient Care, Quality.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) and Project ECHO have launched this program designed to create peer-to-peer learning networks where clinicians who have more experience treating patients in emergency situations share their challenges and successes with clinicians across the U.S. and around the world with a wide variety of experience of these situations. Topics for sessions are based on new and emergent information around emergency preparedness, as well as topics requested by participants.

Certification & Credits

Sessions will be eligible for CME credits.

Contact Information

Please contact C19ECHO@salud.unm.edu for more information.

EMS Narratives | Friday Night [Under The] Lights

Written by Ed Racht on December 7, 2022. Posted in Ambulance Chaser Blog, Employee Wellness, Leadership & Management, Operations, Patient Care, Recruitment & Retention, Uncategorized.

EMS Narratives Columns

Below is the first in a series of monthly personal narratives from EMS leaders. If you would like to submit a column for consideration, please email hello@ambulance.org.

Written Friday, November 25, 2022 | By Ed Racht, MD

Happy Friday, and happy Thanksgiving weekend. I hope by now your blood sugar is slowly but surely heading back to baseline despite all the leftovers calling you from the fridge. Worth it though, right? My dad taught me long ago, “everything in moderation—even moderation.”

So, I want to tell you something tonight, especially because it is the Thanksgiving season. I’ve been thinking for a while about how to say this without sounding cliché, routine, robotic, or insincere. And then—as so often happens in life—I got a little help from a very unlikely encounter.

This past Saturday, my bestie, Heather, and I went to try a local diner for breakfast. This place has been around since air was invented. Cash only. Same tables and seats since the day they opened. Part Formica, part particle board countertops. None of the coffee cups match. Open only until 2:00PM and always closed on Sundays. The ham & cheese omelet is $7.99. Biscuits, bread, or hashbrowns only. Everyone that comes in knows everyone else. And it is packed all the time.

We chose a booth in the corner by the window because our server told us that was the warmest table she had available. She was right.

As we sat drinking our coffee in mismatched mugs, we both noticed an elderly man sitting by himself at the end of the counter. He had placed his walker against the ATM along the wall (cash only, remember?).

Then he slowly got up from his stool, grabbed that walker, and carefully wobbled his way to the restroom. It was one of those moments where we both watched and quietly prepared to jump up to help prevent what seemed like an inevitable fall. We didn’t want to offend him with an offer to help but didn’t want him taking a trip to ground either.

We looked across the table at each other and did that mutual raised eyebrow thingy. Ugh. “Warmest booth we have,” she said. Great.

A few minutes later, he slowly made his way back to his spot. But he went a few feet too far this time with the walker, making a beeline directly toward the warmest booth in the diner. He stopped for a minute (what the heck?) grabbed the handwritten check off our table and turned around, without saying a word, and made his way back to his seat. His walker made those sequential two inch turns.

Great. How do you tell an older man he has OUR check (and why did we come here again)?

“Excuse me?” We both said, eyebrows up again.

He turned to us and said, “I’ve got it.”

Wait. What?

He said, “I come up here every day for breakfast when they’re open. Twice a month, I like to buy somebody else’s breakfast. I’ve got it.”

Wow. We sat in stunned silence as this gentleman made his way back to the counter and sat down on his stool.

To make a long story short, we thanked him and struck up a small conversation with him. A few minutes in, he asked, “can I get closer?”

Of course.

So once again we went through the diner-walker challenge and he made his way over to the warmest booth in the restaurant and sat with us for the next hour. We talked about all sorts of things. His wife had been a nurse (mental health was her specialty). He told us about where they had lived and their adventures. He talked a little about his opinions of healthcare today (you can fill in those blanks).

At one point, he told me he lived in Texas and he’d always travel into Mexico to get his medications because they were so much cheaper than in the US. I asked him if he was nervous about going.

He laughed, and said, “I always went in the morning. Bad guys don’t get up early.”

Now, I’ve been in EMS for a few years and you know what? He’s right. Holy crud. Funny and spot-on relevant.

So, why am I telling you about Gary (his real name, by the way)? First, I need to cover a few more things to pull the meaning of this story together. Bear with me.

Fair warning. This next part doesn’t feel Thanksgivingy, but I’m going to argue that it’s at the very heart of a meaningful “thanks.”

Take a look at some of the toughest parts of our world right now:

How can we ever understand recent senseless acts of violence—and how will we ever comfort our own who responded?
What do we do about the fact that a recent survey shows that nine in 10 nurses believe the quality of patient care often suffers due to nursing shortages?
And, by the way, the majority added that they feel guilty about taking a break because they think they must always be on call (55%).
… resulting in half of the nurses polled admitting they have considered leaving the nursing profession altogether (50%).
And how about this one? According to a AAA survey of 258 EMS organizations across the country, nearly a third of the workforce left their ambulance company after less than a year. Eleven percent left within the first three months!
Did you know that the number of serious patient safety incidents reported to The Joint Commission jumped in 2021, reaching the highest annual level seen since the accrediting body started tracking them in 2005?
And … In Minnesota, nearly 60% of the state’s EMTs and about 15% of Paramedics did not provide patient care in 2021. This suggests that they left the EMS workforce altogether.

I’ll stop there, because I think you get the gist. How (and why) do I go from a Gary story to this?

This is, without a doubt, the most challenging period of EMS and healthcare history that we have faced together. Ever.

It’s really, really hard right now. And it’s hard in a different way than we’ve ever faced. Clinically hard. Operationally hard. Financially hard. Culturally hard.

Which also means that it’s personally hard. Whether you are directly providing care to a patient or supporting all the complexities that make that interaction possible and effective, it’s hard on us. The facts above reflect exactly that.

Now, I’ve been in EMS for a year or two (insert big-eye emoji), and one of the most rewarding feelings on the planet is creating order out of someone else’s chaos. I honestly believe that people like you choose this profession and support this profession in large part to make other people’s lives better.

Our mission is among the purest and most important on the face of the earth. Just think about how many people enjoyed a Thanksgiving with the people they loved because someone years before fixed their distorted anatomy or disrupted physiology.

It’s easy to forget the massive good a profession, an organization, or an individual can do. Gary gave us a little gift. When I first saw him, I was certain we would end up having to help him. But instead, he helped us.

When we work hard to take care of our patients, our communities, each other, our organization and our profession—They. Take. Care. Of. Us.

So. When our workplace is supportive, people want to join us. When our partners are fun, we seek them out. When our medicine is strong and sound, the medical profession embraces us. When our operation is accountable, we grow, evolve, and thrive when the art and science changes. When we come together as a team, we become the model of effective care. And when all that happens, WE, as individuals, can help tackle all the tough stuff in the most effective way possible.

I’d love to have more people choose EMS as a profession. I’d love to see them seek out advancement and growth. I’d love to see the science evolve to support better outcomes in unplanned illness and injury. I’d love to see hospital metrics and EMS metrics get better, not languish. I’d love to help communities become safer. And I would absolutely love for every one of us individually to be a part of that. I promise. That’s the way we make things so much better.

So tonight, on this day after Thanksgiving, I want to tell you that I’m not just thankful for what you do, I’m also extremely grateful. My daughter taught me there’s a difference. The definition of thankful is “pleased and relieved.” The definition of grateful is “feeling or showing an appreciation of kindness and gratitude.” In that spirit, I wanted to share that I’m grateful for you and I’m grateful for EMS.

We need the best in one another right now. There are four legs in our Bench of EMS Strength: