Mobile integrated healthcare and community paramedicine programs allow EMS to perform assessments and non-emergency care and service referrals outside of the 9-1-1 system. These programs promise to significantly reduce the use of frequent, repetitive emergency calls for non-emergencies, and could relieve part of the burden on public safety. 
 

One such program in Alameda County, California, is part of a statewide initiative to curb hospital readmission rates and explore alternative options for healthcare delivery. An article from the Journal of Emergency Medical Services outlines the important points Alameda County considered in identifying the goals and implementation of the program.

As rural America ages, officials should strategically plan to help older adults age in place, say aging experts. While both rural and urban adults across the country face a variety of challenges, from social isolation to food insecurity to mobility and transportation difficulties, older adults in rural areas are likely to face several of those challenges at once, reports U.S. News & World Report.  While some initiatives in rural areas should benefit the needs of older adults specifically, others—such as improving internet access or making streets more walkable—can benefit residents of all ages. (Photo: sabinevanerp on Pixabay) 

An article from the Rural Health Information Hub highlights approaches to trauma-informed care—an approach that helps individuals recover from traumatic experiences, from natural disasters to adverse childhood experiences, by using principles that cultivate safety, empowerment, and healing. (Photo: Hush Naidoo on Unsplash) 

Visits to rural hospital emergency departments have jumped more than 70 percent since 2005, at a rate much more than urban emergency departments, according to new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association online. 
 

Data taken from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and analyzed by researchers shows that over the twelve year period from 2005 to 2016, rural emergency room visits jumped from an estimated 16.7 million to 28.4 million. They found that visit rates increased by more than fifty percent, from 36.5 to 64.6 visits per 100 persons. That rate outpaces urban emergency departments, which rose from 40.2 to 42.8 visits per 100 persons. 
 

The researchers also break those numbers down by demographics, and found that rural emergency room visits increased among the following populations: an increase of 9 million visits by non-Hispanic whites, an increase of 5.3 million visits by Medicaid beneficiaries, and an increase of 700,000 visits by those without insurance. That means that rural emergency departments are increasingly serving a larger proportion of traditionally disadvantaged groups, and face a greater pressure to provide care regardless of a patient's ability to pay. 

Governor Tony Evers has proclaimed this week Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. Wisconsin's dispatchers and communicators are the voice on the other side of 9-1-1, and they coordinate emergency assistance from fire, law enforcement, and EMS. They receive 2.9 million emergency and non-emergency calls each year, across 109 public safety answer points or 9-1-1 dispatch centers. 

Penalties for readmissions at teaching and rural hospitals have dropped under changes to a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services program, reports Modern Healthcare. These hospitals experienced lower penalties in 2019 compared to 2018, as the result of changes made to the readmissions program this year in which hospitals were separated into five groups by similar proportion of patients who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. 
 

The changes were mandated by Congress to accommodate particular types of hospitals, who reported they were being unfairly penalized in the program because of their complex patient case mix. As a result of the changes, hospitals in the lowest quintile of dual enrollment saw an increase of $12.3 million in penalties, while those in the highest quintile of dual enrollment saw a decrease of $22.4 million, according to a study examining the effects of the changes, recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association: Internal Medicine. (Photo: Rohvannyn on Pixabay)

In August 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) overhauled the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program to reduce the burden on providers and improve patient and clinical access to health information. The rule finalized four new performance-based scoring methodologies, with a smaller set of four objectives: e-prescribing, health information exchange, provider to patient exchange, and public health and clinical data exchange. 

We are happy to report that last week's EMS Advocacy Day at the Capitol was a success! EMS providers gathered from across the state to speak with their legislators on a variety of issues. A hearty thank you to our partners for helping coordinate this event, to legislators for meeting with us, and to EMS personnel for giving their time to advocate for these issues. 
 

This year, EMS providers asked for a variety of legislative and budgetary fixes to help EMS, that include a change in Medicaid reimbursement, tax incentives for EMS and fire volunteers, shared revenue asks, and the allowance of formally-recognized emergency districts. 

Check out our "By the Numbers" breakdown of the event here, and find our photo album here. 

Methadone is one of the best ways to recover from opiate addiction, but rural residents who require the treatment usually must travel long distances to receive treatment. In Arizona, rural residents seeking medication for opioid addiction must travel hundreds of miles, reports The Daily Yonder.