Association Update: January 2022

NHTSA OEMS Provides Annual Update

The NHTSA Office of EMS issued its annual update, highlighting some of the EMS-focused work happening at the national level in 2021, including newly revised National EMS Education Standards, evidence-based guidelines to support safe and effective care, advances in EMS data collection and analysis, and the COVID-19 response. 

The office breaks its activities down into several categories, including advancing EMS systems, promoting education, supporting research, enhancing the EMS workforce, using data to improve patient care, enabling preparedness, and supporting 9-1-1 systems. 

Read the report at www.ems.gov. The NHTSA Office of EMS encourages providers to look for ways to get involved in national efforts to improve EMS and create a better future for our patients and communities.

—NHTSA Office of EMS

CAMTS Announces Changes, New Accreditation

The Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems (CAMTS) and CAMTS Global boards of directors met in Fort Worth, Tex., last fall to approve their 2022 budgets and review and approve accreditation applications. There the CAMTS board made key changes to the program that will affect all applicants and accredited services going forward.

Beginning January 2022, CAMTS programs achieving full accreditation for the third consecutive tenure will receive a 10% discount on the asset fee, which is currently $1,000 per in-service aircraft and $150 per in-service ambulance. The board supported the discount unanimously as a way to reward programs dedicated to consistently maintaining substantial compliance to accreditation standards.

The board also voted to combine Emergency Critical Care and Intensive Critical Care into a single Critical Care category in the upcoming 12th-edition standards. While there are defined minor differences in the 11th-edition standards, CAMTS was not accrediting at the Intensive Critical Care level pending more data. For definitively differentiating between Emergency and Intensive Critical Care for CAMTS accreditation, there was not enough clear differentiation beyond some interventions, training, and skills most programs were already including. 

The change will be published in October 2022 and effective as of January 2023. For more see camts.org.

CAMTS also announced the awarding of initial accreditation to rotor-wing provider LifeGuard Air Ambulance of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 

—Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems

DHS Funds Interoperable Messaging for First Responders

The Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology Directorate (S&T) has awarded more than $1.5 million to Mobility 4 Public Safety (M4PS) to advance the development of the Bridge 4 Public Safety (Bridge4PS) messaging and collaborating platform for first responders.

“With no dedicated public safety messaging and collaboration platform, many public safety and emergency response officials are leveraging nonsecure, consumer-grade messaging tools,” said DHS spokesperson Kathryn Coulter Mitchell. “S&T recognized the need to have secure, industrywide interoperability and information sharing and turned to industry to help solve this challenge.”

Bridge4PS launched in 2019 as a proof of concept with funding from S&T to study the demand and feasibility of a secure and interoperable public safety platform. Tested in Houston and Los Angeles, its early adoption exceeded expectations, and DHS authorized its expansion to the rest of the country.

Bridge4PS is available to all eligible public safety and support practitioners in the United States and its territories. Find eligibility criteria at www.bridge4ps.com/eligibility. 

—Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology Directorate

NCEMSF to Meet Live in Pittsburgh

The National Collegiate EMS Foundation will host its annual conference in person Feb. 25–27 in Pittsburgh. Appropriate COVID-19 safety protocols were being reviewed at press time and were to be shared online throughout the winter.

This is the NCEMSF’s 29th annual conference. The weekend is dedicated to the education of college and university EMS providers. Around 1,200 attendees are expected from more than 110 universities and colleges. Learn more at www.ncemsf.org/conference. 

—National Collegiate EMS Foundation