Committees

Rural EMS

Overview

This committee focuses on the needs facing EMS systems in rural and frontier areas, such as inaccessibility, aging infrastructure, communications technology, and more.

Meeting schedule

The NASEMSO Rural Committee meets in person at the NASEMSO Annual Meeting. In between Annual Meetings, it meets as a part of the Joint Committee on Rural Emergency Care (JCREC) every month by conference call on the second Monday at 3 PM Eastern.  Its work plan is that of the JCREC.

Template for Emergency Medical Services Informed Community Self Determination (ICSD)

Informed self-determination provides a process in which:

  • An objective evaluation of the service is completed by an outside expert or entity using a standardized evaluation tool.
  • The evaluator reports on issues which jeopardize service performance and their impact on response and the and level of care provided.
  • Options are presented within accepted national practices and state EMS law and regulations, and their implementation and cost impacts explained.
  • The community holds a meeting(s) of taxpayers and/or their representative decision-makers, selects a level and type of service it desires, and establishes a level of funding needed to implement and sustain it.

The ICSD process is intended for EMS response areas that are rural, relatively isolated, and do not have multiple EMS resource options.

Rural Community Ambulance Agency Transformation consists of a self-assessment and associated resource collections in the areas of the Critical Access Hospital Blueprint for Performance Excellence, adapted specifically for rural ambulance agencies, from the Baldrige Excellence Framework for Health Care. Leaders are encouraged to complete the assessment periodically to monitor their progress and receive updated resources to guide their continued journey. The self-assessment and resource collections Include:

Legal Recognition of EMTs on Wildland Fires

This guide is intended to be used as reference material only. State policies are subject to change and may not be immediately reflected in this document. The processes listed below are for Basic Life Support only. Medical Unit Leaders, Logistic Section Chiefs, Agency Administrators, and others must appropriately research processes in each state.

Western States Processes for Legal Recognition of EMTs on Wildland Fires

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Chair

Tim Perkins
Virginia Office of EMS

For More Information

Andy Gienapp, MS, NRP
NASEMSO Deputy Executive Director
andy@nasemso.org