Contact: Rebecca Dinan Schneider
Clinton, Miss. — To help ensure that emergency medical services (EMS) has a strong voice in the nation’s capitol and in government decisions that affect the field and its practitioners, 120 EMS professionals from 40 states and Puerto Rico advocated for EMS at the first EMS on the Hill Day, which took place May 3-4 in Washington, D.C. The event was hosted by the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT).
This event, which will be held annually, represented the EMS community’s first coordinated effort to visit congressional leaders and staff on Capitol Hill, and included representation from all sectors of the EMS community. The Hotel Palomar in Washington, D.C., was the official event hotel. The program included a pre-Hill Visit briefing to prepare participants for visiting Congressional leaders, as well as a reception, hosted by NAEMT, for all participants, congressional leaders and staff, and federal agency staff. At the reception, Congressman Tim Wolz (Minn.) received the Legislator of the Year Award from Advocates for EMS for his congressional leadership on issues of concern to the EMS community.
Participants visited with over 160 U.S. Senators and House Representatives. Issues they addressed with their representatives included:
- The Medicare Ambulance Access Preservation Act of 2009 (S. 1066, H.R. 2443) — This would provide permanent Medicare reimbursement relief for ambulance services consistent with the 1997 GAO report that determined that they are paid significantly below cost. It would provide a permanent 6 percent increase for ambulance transports originating in urban or rural areas and add a bonus payment for transports originating in super rural areas.
- The Dale Long Emergency Medical Service Providers Protection Act (S. 1353) and the Nongovernmental Emergency Responder Family Protection Act (H.R. 2485) - Both bills would extend the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) program — which currently only apply to those employed by a federal, state or local government entity ― to EMS professionals employed by private, non-profit EMS agencies.
- Field EMS legislation - Currently under development, this would implement a cohesive strategy to strengthen the development of our nation’s field EMS at the federal, state and local levels. The bill, which is expected to be introduced this summer, will promote patient-centered, medically directed, evidence-based, cost-effective and safe field EMS service throughout the United States to enhance 24/7 readiness, catastrophic preparedness and continual innovation in quality and capability for the betterment of patients.
“NAEMT was pleased to see this successful event come together and for EMS professionals to make our collective voice heard in our nation’s capitol,” says Patrick Moore, President of NAEMT. “We need to have a voice in any decisions made at the federal level that affect us. This event helped us build governmental relationships that will strengthen our national advocacy work on important issues and will help us shape federal legislation.”
NAEMT is the nation’s only professional association representing all EMS practitioners, including paramedics, emergency medical technicians, first responders and other professionals working in pre-hospital emergency medicine. NAEMT members work in all sectors of EMS, including government service agencies, fire departments, hospital-based ambulance services, private companies, industrial and special operations settings, and in the military.