Rural EMS Committee

Rural EMS

Overview

The provision of emergency medical services in the rural environment poses many challenges. The remoteness and inaccessibility of some rural and wilderness areas significantly reduces the capacity of EMS agencies to respond to a patient in need. Other challenges include poor provider reimbursement, recruitment and retention difficulties, a dwindling pool of volunteer personnel, aging infrastructure, communication technology problems, lack of access to qualified medical direction, and continuing education. NASEMSO recognizes the need for a continued focus on the needs facing the EMS systems in rural and frontier areas.

Rural EMS Committee Purpose:

    • Engage NASEMSO on topics relevant to rural and frontier EMS.
    • Provide rural input and expertise to the NASEMSO organization and executive committee.
    • Promote interaction and collaboration with other rural EMS partners.
    Rural Emergency Care

2012 Rural EMS Committee Work Plan

State Perspectives Discussion Paper on Development of Community Paramedic Programs (posted 01/10/11)

White House Rural Council

Rural EMS Committee Documents:

Past Rural EMS Committee Projects

 
NASEMSO and NOSORH Adopt Action Plan to Further Rural EMS Priorities

The Joint Committee on Rural Emergency Care (JCREC) and its parent associations, the National Association of State EMS Officials (NASEMSO) and the National Organization of State Rural Health Offices (NOSORH), have released a priorities action initiative entitled "Improving Access to EMS and Health Care In Rural Communities: A Strategic Plan." [download here]

The plan addresses three priority areas:

  • Integration with Health Care Systems: Redefining the Role of EMS
  • Workforce: Professionalizing and Resourcing the Provision of EMS
  • Performance: Measuring and Paying for the Provision of EMS

The paper assesses and includes needs identified by the 2004 Rural and Frontier EMS Agenda for the Future [http://www.citmt.org/download/rfemsagenda.pdf], such as the role of volunteers and community paramedicine, but integrates more recent issues such as paying for rural EMS and measuring its performance.

“This document not only outlines the issues that we must focus on intently in the next few years, but assigns responsibility and deadlines to make sure that the badly needed work gets done. I am confident that it is a formula for moving ahead in a manageable fashion,” said JCREC Chair, Jim DeTienne, who is the EMS director in Montana.

Rural Emergency Medical Services Technical Assistance Center

NASEMSO supported the establishment of a Rural EMS Technical Assistance Center to guide system and policy development and support improved decision-making at the national level.  While REMSTTAC is currently unfunded, the web presence of the center is maintained within the Critical Illness and Trauma Foundation.  The committee continues to support refunding this center.

Wildland Fires

NASEMSO supports the development of an organized approach for granting legal recognition to out-of-state personnel fighting wildland fires.  Work with this project has been renewed in 2008 and federal partners, NASEMO and others are working towards standardization of medical components of wildland fire fighting.

Rural/Frontier EMS Agenda for the Future

The Rural/Frontier EMS Agenda for the Future was a joint project of NASEMSO and the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health, funded by the NRHA and ORHP/HRSA. NASEMSD members on the steering committee included: Fergus Laughridge, Jim Derrick, Jim Prince, Dean Cole, David Lake, and Greg Mears.

You can download a PDF copy of the final report, order print copies, and read about the project here.

2004 State EMS Rural Needs Survey

In April 2004, NASEMSO released the State EMS Rural Needs Survey. This survey was conducted as part of the development of the national Rural/Frontier EMS Agenda for the Future. It replicates part of Challenges of Rural Emergency Medical Services - An Opinion Survey of State EMS Directors, a report published by Bob Bailey, Inc. for the Office of Rural Health Policy in 2000. The portions replicated include the identification of needs and issues important to the provision of rural EMS, and the perceived need for capital budget items for the provision of rural EMS.

Personnel recruitment/retention remains the single most significant issue or need in the provision of rural EMS, according to both the 2000 and 2004 surveys. Financing remained a prominently identified need through both surveys, while 24/7 coverage, communications and response time emerged as far greater concerns in the 2004 survey than in 2000.

Communications equipment was the most often cited capital equipment/facility need in both surveys by slight margins. Training equipment, medical equipment and ambulances were also strong finishers in 2004.

The survey results are available here.