TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Idaho officials are looking to use federal rural health funding to expand community paramedicine and strengthen EMS across the state.
Wayne Denny, chief of Idaho’s Bureau of Emergency Medical Services, said funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act could help bring community-based EMS providers to more rural areas. The Idaho Capital Sun reported the investment could provide additional support for an EMS system facing workforce and funding shortages while improving access to care in communities with limited medical providers.
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“This very possibly will kind of serve as that seed money that we were going to need to start getting the system built out,” Denny said. “Because we really think that if we can get this foundation created and demonstrate that the model that we’re suggesting has value and that it will end up saving money in the end.”
In south-central Idaho’s Magic Valley, community health workers are helping reduce pressure on hospitals, according to James Rhom, who manages the EMS team at Magic Valley Paramedics.
Rhom said the program has helped reduce emergency department demand and hospital readmissions among recently discharged patients.
The Magic Valley program, launched in 2019, serves Twin Falls, Jerome and Gooding counties. In Ada County, community paramedicine has been in place for more than a decade, with paramedic Mark Babson among the program’s early participants.
Denny told lawmakers the EMS Bureau hopes to use federal rural health funding to strengthen Idaho’s 911 and EMS systems. Plans include modernizing communications, expanding next-generation 911, growing community-based EMS programs and placing at least one paid EMS provider in each of Idaho’s 44 counties.
The state faces an Oct. 30 deadline to distribute the federal rural health funding or risk having the money reclaimed by the federal government.
