RURAL HEALTH COMMUNITY SYSTEMS
ADVOCACY FOR EMS
Summer 2000
THE NEW 2000 MISSION:
Rural Health Community Systems will facilitate access to quality emergency
health care through innovative partnerships. Rural Health Community Systems will
accomplish this community access through improvement in the three
"T's:"
* Training
* Treatment
* Transport
MEDICARE & Advanced Life Support & YOU!
You are invited...
The Federal Balanced Budget Act of 1997 has a direct impact on how your local EMS squad operates. That's the good news and the bad news. Amo Houghton has been a strong advocate for you in Congress. However bureaucrats from Health Care Finance Administration, (HCFA) have done their share to confuse the issue.
In an effort to sort out fact from fiction the Rural Health Community Systems has invited a representative from HCFA to come to Steuben County and explain exactly how the Medicare reimbursement for Advanced Life Support intercept works. You are invited. Bring your Captains and Chiefs, bring your crew, bring anyone who's interested.
On Tuesday evening, July 11, 2000 at 7 pm the Rural Health Community Systems is hosting an informational meeting between the volunteer Emergency Medical Services squads in Steuben County and Medicare. It will be held in the Bath Volunteer Ambulance building on East Steuben St. in Bath, NY. The network wants to thank the Bath squad for this contribution.
Rural Health Community Systems has also asked the New York State Department of Health Bureau of Emergency Medical Services Director Edward Wronski, to send someone who can answer questions on why New York State Department of Health determined that Emergency Medical Services squad attached to fire companies have restrictions regarding the provision of Advanced Life Support. Its an important question that needs a clear, plain and simple answer. If you have questions you want answered, this is the time and place to do it.
A few questions we want answered...
*What is the relationship between a BLS and a Paramedic intercept service?
*Medicare does have limited coverage of intercept services in rural areas, right?
*Who receives the Medicare payment: the local squad, the Advanced Life Support provider, or the beneficiary?
*Who has the 'contract' with who?
*What are the requirements of the BLS volunteers?
*What are the consequences of NYS laws regarding reimbursement for intercept?
*What requirements must Advanced Life Support providers meet?
*Who exactly is billed for this service?
If you have a question you would like answered on July 11, call the Steuben County Office of Emergency Services, Michael Sprague, Director at 607-776-4009 or FAX at 607-776-3334. Mike is an active member of the network and knows the importance of good solid information in your decision making process.
EMS YOUTH CORPS PROJECT
A Recruitment and Retention Investment
Rural Health Community Systems has hired Adam Oplinger to develop an Emergency Medial Services Youth Corps Project. Your membership, though our EMS Study, told us that recruitment and retention continues to be a major concern of many squad throughout the Steuben County area. Volunteer EMS organizations provide the back bone of Steuben's pre-hospital emergency medical treatment and transportation system.
A shortage of volunteers could place unreasonable stress on many of these organizations. If your crew is made up of a small group of highly dedicated providers who are trying to maintain the high level of service that the community has come to expect, your squad could be in danger of losing even these members.
Rural Health Community Systems feels that this EMS Youth Corps program represents a long term investment and viable option in assisting the recruitment of new EMS volunteers.
The main emphasis of this program will be to stimulate an interest in Emergency Medical Services. Young men and women, age 14 and older, throughout the Steuben County will be encouraged to join. The EMS Youth Corps members would gain exposure to the operations of their local volunteer Emergency Medical Services agency. Rural Health Community Systems hopes that by exposing the young volunteers to this environment early, that many would choose to continue serving their communities as adult EMS volunteers.
EMS youth Corps participants will take a Red Cross training class to give them some background knowledge regarding emergency medical care. This will allow students to gain certifications in both CPR and First Aid and provide them with a basic understanding of pre-hospital emergency medicine.
Additionally, we will be encouraging participating agencies to allow students to attend meetings and training sessions, and to set up a meeting time when students will be able to gather at the agency facility and participate in a wide variety of activities related to EMS
Rural Health Community Systems will be asking each EMS agency interested in participating to recruit a "Youth Corps Advisor" from their ranks. The EMS Youth Corps Director would orient this advisor and provide a program manual. The ideal Advisor would be an individual who is experienced in the field of EMS and has some experience dealing with youth through coaching, scouting, etc.
The Advisor would be directly responsible for working with the youth assigned to their agency, provide structure, supervision, and ensure that program goals are being met. The Advisor will also be responsible for working with the Program Director on program development and setting up activities for the teens.
School Districts throughout the Steuben County area will be the recruiting ground for program candidates. The benefit to the school districts will be students developing such skills as responsibility, leadership, interpersonal skills and to increase self-confidence and self-esteem. Also, participation in this program will allow students to explore a possible career in EMS or healthcare.
Rural Health Community Systems sees this program as a means to increase community awareness of just how valuable a volunteer Emergency Medical Services organization is to the safety and well being of out communities.
For more information call Adam Oplinger at 607-776-4009.
Survey looks for vital signs in volunteer ambulance service
WAYLAND- The men and women who provide ambulance service to rural Steuben and Livingston counties agree on one point: more volunteers are needed.
Attracting new volunteers, and retaining those who currently serve on Emergency Medical Services Ambulance squads, were the crucial points that emerged repeatedly Saturday morning during a review of a special survey of Steuben and Livingston ambulance officials.
The so-called "EMS Town Meeting," held in Wayland-Cohocton Central School, drew ambulance volunteers and government officials from several counties. The centerpiece of the meeting was the survey of 169 volunteer ambulance officials and corps members. The polling was sponsored by Rural Health Community Systems, serving Steuben County, and The Genesee Valley Health Network in Livingston county.
"This is a snapshot of EMS volunteers in Livingston and Steuben counties... where you are today and where you want to be tomorrow," said Betty Embser Wattenberg of Rural Health Community Systems. The key finding: "First of all, we have to retain the good people we have... and we need to find replacements." summed up Everett Ferguson, executive director of the Ontario County Advanced Life Support Inc., who conducted the survey.
The demands are mounting on EMS volunteers. Not only are there increasing requirements for training and a medical need to be on the scene within minutes, but volunteers also feel the need to limit EMS activities due to work and family commitments, according to the survey. "The public may be looking at expectations (for service) that may be realistic, may be false, may be something they see on television," Ferguson said. "But they expect, when Grandpa is sick, someone to be there to help him."
The survey indicates the rural EMS ambulance corps of Steuben and Livingston counties have basic life support personnel on the scene in less than seven minutes, with a chief responding shortly thereafter. In areas with advanced life support, volunteer crews and chiefs responded in less than ten minutes. While ambulance officers and corps members are nearly unanimous in their belief that more volunteers would have a positive impact on their communities, the overwhelming majority believe adding paid ambulance service to supplement their efforts would have a negative or little effect.
Ferguson said survey respondents seemed to believe the presence of paid professionals, in whatever capacity, "probably would make people not want to volunteer." There was less opposition to adding paid paramedic "fly cars" to their communities. "In our little 'snapshot,' we are not ready yet for paid ambulance systems," Ferguson said. The survey and report included an extensive list of findings, with recommendations for both Steuben and Livingston counties that addressed volunteers, training, and other EMS details.
For it's part, Steuben County is in "the very, very, very preliminary stage of investigation" into what it can do for its EMS and firefighting volunteers, according to Legislative Chairman Stoner Horey, R-Canisteo. Horey said he had spoken this past week with both Mike Sprague, Steuben County's director of emergency services, and Donna Hatch, country director of real property tax services, about setting up some kind of county property tax break for firefighters and ambulance corps members. "A tax break in and of itself is not going to make people run out and volunteer," Horey said, "but it is more in recognition of what they do... we are going to come up with something, but we don't know what that something is."
-By Robert J. Roberts.
Reproduced from Sunday, February 27, 2000 edition of The Spectator with permission.
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