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Emergency Med Shortage Addressed

EMS organizations achieved a victory when, as a result of their lobbying efforts, emergency medical drugs were included in the drug shortage prevention bill signed into law by President Obama on July 9.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Safety and Innovation Act, which renews the authority of the agency to collect user fees from drug manufacturers, enabled the FDA to address the growing problem of drug shortages, including those used by EMS responders and hospital emergency departments.

The House and Senate had entertained differing bill drafts requiring drug manufacturers to report production interruptions or discontinuations of certain critical drugs used by hospitals or health care facilities to the Department of Health and Human Services. These bills did not include medications used in the provision of emergency medical care until a 16-member coalition of representatives from the EMS community became involved in the effort to have those drugs included.

According to the coalition’s estimate, approximately 50 percent of the medications on one FDA pharmaceutical shortage list included drugs routinely used by EMS agencies in lifesaving situations and no alternatives were available.

Wildland Fire Strategy Advances

As the country faces the worst drought in 56 years and firefighters are increasingly involved in battling related wildfires, the Wildland Fire Leadership Council (WFLC) released the second of its three-part cohesive management strategy in June. Building on the national framework established in phase one, “A National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy (Cohesive Strategy)—Phase II National Report” focuses on restoring and maintaining fire-resilient landscapes, preventing loss of life and property by using infrastructure and other means to create fire-adapted communities, and developing cooperative wildfire response through local participation in wildfire management decisions.

The phase two strategy incorporates the views of three regional strategy committees (RSCs) representing the West, Southeast and Northeast and was developed collaboratively among federal and local government officials, the private sector, responders and at-risk citizens. The strategy embraces issues of natural resource management, communications, the social and economic implications of landscape and fire management, and firefighting. Among the RSCs’ common findings are that collaboration and communication are key to success; effective education and outreach are required to empower citizen participation; and landscaping and vegetation management aid mitigation.

The phase two document is here.

Federal Interagency Plans Released

An overview of the Federal Interagency Operational Plans (FIOPs), the assigned federal agencies’ roles and responsibilities in achieving the National Preparedness Goal, was released in July by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This overview is intended for public review in preparation for delivery of the final plan to the president, required by Sept. 25. The FIOPs cover the roles of federal agencies across five missions: prevention, protection, mitigation, response and recovery.

These FIOPs, part of the deliverables under March 2011 Presidential Policy Directive/PPD-8: National Preparedness, are relevant to responders who must know how actions of the federal government will affect their preparedness activities, particularly the federal roles in the Response FIOP. This FIOP, which assumes a no-notice catastrophe affecting several regions, producing thousands of casualties and significant damage to the infrastructure, expands upon the National Response Framework and is guided by the National Incident Management System. By providing additional information on the federal response, the FIOP is designed to inform local and state stakeholders of what they can expect so they may plan accordingly for a shared operational response.

The Response FIOP is an all-hazards plan containing three main sections. The Base Plan describes federal government support efforts, planning assumptions, response and short-term recovery operations; the Functional Annexes include the concepts of operations and coordination instructions for each of the 14 response core capabilities identified in the National Preparedness Goal; and the Incident Annexes describe the missions, policies, responsibilities and coordination processes for incident management and emergency response operations for incidents that require specialized responses.

An overview is available at here.


9/11 Cancer Coverage Likely

Fifty types of cancers affecting responders and others who participated in search and rescue during the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and cleanup are likely to become covered diseases under the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program. A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) was issued by the Department of Health and Human Services in the June 13 Federal Register.
The Public Health Service Act requires the WTC program administrator to conduct rulemaking to propose the addition of cancer to the list of covered diseases. A study published in The Lancet demonstrating a link between rescue workers and specific types of cancers, in addition to a petition from New York legislators to add cancer to the list of covered diseases, required Administrator John Howard, M.D., to act.

Cancer was previously omitted from the list because researchers did not find a positive correlation between the work and cancers. With new research to review, the WTC Health Program’s Scientific/Technical Advisory Committee recommended covering more than 4 dozen cancers—including those of the sinuses, larynx, esophagus, stomach, colon, liver and respiratory sites. If the NPRM is successful, as expected, it would allow sick 9/11 responders in New York City; Washington, D.C.; and Shanksville, Pa., to receive benefits from the $4.3 billion WTC Health Program fund.

The notice is at here.

Produced in partnership with NEMSMA, Paramedic Chief: Best Practices for the Progressive EMS Leader provides the latest research and most relevant leadership advice to EMS managers and executives. From emerging trends to analysis and insight, practical case studies to leadership development advice, Paramedic Chief is packed with useful, valuable ideas you simply can’t get anywhere else.
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