What does the future of EMS look like in your Magic 8 Ball?
What is the future of EMS? If you ask a group of EMS Service directors this question, the answers will be vastly different, and all will be looking for the consensus answer. The continued discussion of healthcare on the national level has EMS providers around the northern hemisphere looking for what tomorrow is going to bring. From the way we provide services to the way we are going to receive payment for service, the day to day operations are going to change; just what will it look like.
Community Paramedicine:
This is the future of EMS!!! ...or at least part of it. The topic of community paramedicine has been discussed in most every state, in almost every prehospital medical journal and trade publication available, and is a topic that is either in the process of being implemented or discussed in organizations around the country.
Community Paramedic is one of the single largest changes to the field of EMS, the only problem is the changes are so vast across the country. In some areas, they are using Paramedics in clinics to help arrange for minor care for those rural areas that don't have a hospital or clinic setting near by, while others are using paramedics to visit high risk/high transport patients to ensure they are receiving the care necessary to prevent transport and admission/readmissions into the hospital. January 22, JEMS published an article online entitled "Minnesota Paramedic Trades in Sirens for a Honda". In this article author Maura Lerner writes about a paramedic that is visiting homes of patients either prior to calls, or after discharge from the hospital. This is designed to ensure a patient is comfortable and healthy in their homes instead of in a hospital bed.
So how is this going to change EMS...well if you look at your bottom line most of the operating budget comes from transporting patients. If you limit the amount of times we transport patients the funding will also decrease. As a director you already know everyone in the field operates their organization on a minimal budget anyways, so how is having less money going to help. We this is where the next main point comes in.
How are we going to receive funding.
So have you ever even considered the fact that the methods you currently use for payment is going to change. Certainly!!! Every year EMS agencies fight for the amount of reimbursement you will receive through insurance companies. What is I said, wait, the entire method you are going to be paid is differnet. I have spoken with my medical director about the future of EMS. Thrilling conversations I can certainly tell you. But with recent meetings of the NAEMSP, medical directors from around the country began to speak about just that, a tremendous change in the way we receive our funding. The topic of this was to move away from a patient transport model. Now, what is going to takes it place, well nothing right now, but it does require us to continue to look at methods that we are going to use to ensure viability of one of the best emergency services around.
Now I know that I haven't really discussed much about how EMS will look in the future, but I have brought up some points that can, and will be discussed. We need to be in continous communications with our medical directors, and our legislators to ensure we have an adequate plan in place to continue the delivery of prehospital emergency care.
Look for episodes of the newest EMS Educast Format, the EMS Educast Mini. Three episodes are now available at the EMS Educast and I am currently working on more, once my voice returns. I look forward to continuing the discussion on my twitter at www.twitter.com/dsblev or here at the ComboMedic.
Take care, and stay safe!!!!
The ComboMedic
What is the future of EMS? If you ask a group of EMS Service directors this question, the answers will be vastly different, and all will be looking for the consensus answer. The continued discussion of healthcare on the national level has EMS providers around the northern hemisphere looking for what tomorrow is going to bring. From the way we provide services to the way we are going to receive payment for service, the day to day operations are going to change; just what will it look like.
Community Paramedicine:
This is the future of EMS!!! ...or at least part of it. The topic of community paramedicine has been discussed in most every state, in almost every prehospital medical journal and trade publication available, and is a topic that is either in the process of being implemented or discussed in organizations around the country.
Community Paramedic is one of the single largest changes to the field of EMS, the only problem is the changes are so vast across the country. In some areas, they are using Paramedics in clinics to help arrange for minor care for those rural areas that don't have a hospital or clinic setting near by, while others are using paramedics to visit high risk/high transport patients to ensure they are receiving the care necessary to prevent transport and admission/readmissions into the hospital. January 22, JEMS published an article online entitled "Minnesota Paramedic Trades in Sirens for a Honda". In this article author Maura Lerner writes about a paramedic that is visiting homes of patients either prior to calls, or after discharge from the hospital. This is designed to ensure a patient is comfortable and healthy in their homes instead of in a hospital bed.
So how is this going to change EMS...well if you look at your bottom line most of the operating budget comes from transporting patients. If you limit the amount of times we transport patients the funding will also decrease. As a director you already know everyone in the field operates their organization on a minimal budget anyways, so how is having less money going to help. We this is where the next main point comes in.
How are we going to receive funding.
So have you ever even considered the fact that the methods you currently use for payment is going to change. Certainly!!! Every year EMS agencies fight for the amount of reimbursement you will receive through insurance companies. What is I said, wait, the entire method you are going to be paid is differnet. I have spoken with my medical director about the future of EMS. Thrilling conversations I can certainly tell you. But with recent meetings of the NAEMSP, medical directors from around the country began to speak about just that, a tremendous change in the way we receive our funding. The topic of this was to move away from a patient transport model. Now, what is going to takes it place, well nothing right now, but it does require us to continue to look at methods that we are going to use to ensure viability of one of the best emergency services around.
Now I know that I haven't really discussed much about how EMS will look in the future, but I have brought up some points that can, and will be discussed. We need to be in continous communications with our medical directors, and our legislators to ensure we have an adequate plan in place to continue the delivery of prehospital emergency care.
Look for episodes of the newest EMS Educast Format, the EMS Educast Mini. Three episodes are now available at the EMS Educast and I am currently working on more, once my voice returns. I look forward to continuing the discussion on my twitter at www.twitter.com/dsblev or here at the ComboMedic.
Take care, and stay safe!!!!
The ComboMedic
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