EMS on the Hill: Vol. 2 No. 1, January 2008
of emergency medical care in the U.S. One of the biggest is the chance to make progress in implementing recommendations made in the Institute of Medicine's 2006 Emergency Medical Services at the Crossroads report.
Welcome to the second issue of EMS on the Hill, a newsletter representing the work of a broad group of EMS organizations dedicated to achieving positive change and recognition for emergency medical services at the state and federal levels. In July 2007, this group of organizations met to review the recommendations of the 2006 IOM Crossroads report and develop priorities and action items to help make these recommendations reality. This newsletter will provide updates on those action items, plus discuss other critical industry issues.
MOVING FORWARD IN 2008
With the new year come new opportunities for the betterment of emergency medical care in the U.S. One of the biggest is the chance to make progress in implementing recommendations made in the Institute of Medicine's 2006 Emergency Medical Services at the Crossroads report.
As reported in the last issue of EMS On the Hill, top EMS leaders gathered in Washington, DC, last summer to discuss ways to advance the IOM's comprehensive agenda for improving America's EMS systems. Participants from the nation's leading EMS organizations agreed on priority areas and general steps to take, then took them home for assessment by their groups and integration into their agendas. They'll be goals for 2008 and beyond. No one is expecting landmark leaps forward overnight, of course, but there's now a consensus effort among the major players for moving these ideas forward.
One initial challenge lies in an uncertain electoral landscape. Much of what needs to happen needs to happen legislatively, and with the 2008 elections approaching, EMS concerns--especially ones that would cost money-- are generally not priorities for lawmakers. (Note to EMS readers: Anyone want to work to change that?) But there is a potentially major federal resource coming on the administrative side: a 26-member National EMS Advisory Council that will make recommendations to NHTSA's Offi ce of EMS (OEMS). Its membership, expected to be announced soon, will include a wide range of EMS stakeholders who will help inform the OEMS' work. "The NEMSAC establishes a formal method for obtaining input and advice from the nation's EMS community," NHTSA of- fi cials said in announcing the panel's creation in 2006.
Other progress is occurring through OEMS and FICEMS (the Federal Interagency Committee on EMS) as well. NHTSA is working with federal partners to produce an evidence-based practice guidelines process, and FICEMS' Technical Working Group (TWG) is developing short- and long-term EMS needs assessments. Work also continues on the national EMS education standards.
Among the leading emergency medical care advocacy organizations, the American College of Emergency Physicians is planning to use the annual EMS Week celebration in May to promote causes important to EMS. This year's event is May 18--24. For more, see www.acep.org/ emsweek.
NATIONAL NEWS
EMS EXPO ROUNDTABLE BRINGS TOGETHER THE BIG GUNS
A common lament in EMS is that the federal government's involvement in the fi eld is so fragmented. The cabinet-level departments of Transportation, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services all have irons in the prehospital fi re, sometimes more than one. If you need to pose questions to federal sources about workforce issues, Medicare reimbursement and disaster response, you could be looking at three lengthy phone-tree ordeals. Unless you were at EMS EXPO last October in Orlando, where show architects assembled a groundbreaking panel of top federal offi cials to discuss their efforts on behalf of EMS and take questions from attendees.
