Association Update: October 2021

Two New Accreditations, 20 Reaccredited by CAMTS

The Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems (CAMTS) Board of Directors met in person in July for the first time since 2019 to approve two new accreditations and reaccredit 20 medical transportation services. 

CAMTS awarded initial accreditation to Children’s One of Aurora, Colo., a rotor-wing, fixed-wing, and surface medical specialty care provider, and Kootenay Emergency Response Physicians Association (KERPA) of Nelson, B.C., a Canadian surface service.

Children’s One has provided pediatric and neonatal transport services in Colorado Springs, Englewood, and Aurora since 2019 from Children’s Hospital Colorado. KERPA is a unique service that sends volunteer EMS physicians in dedicated ground units directly to the scenes of immediate-threat-to-life 9-1-1 calls in the Kootenay Region. 

To achieve accreditation by CAMTS, medical transport programs must adhere to standards developed and continually improved by its board of experienced medical and medical transportation professionals. Adherence to these standards, which are above and beyond regulatory requirements, is audited every three years. Nearly 200 services have achieved CAMTS accreditation. 

—Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems

ALS Exam Redesign Coming in 2023

In 2019 the National Registry Board of Directors approved a framework for updating and refining its Advanced Life Support examinations to better serve the EMS community and better align with testing and certification industry best and emerging practices. This consists of four components: 

• Supporting student minimum competencies by requiring physical skills competency as an eligibility requirement for ALS certification; 
• Continuing to enhance the cognitive item banks by increasing the number of items and adding additional technology-enhanced items; 
• Creating a computer-based performance examination to measure clinical judgment and soft skills as they apply to EMS; and 
• Sunsetting the current psychomotor examination and NREMT portfolio requirements. 

The National Registry will continue to work on the ALS examination redesign with a planned implementation in 2023. Bringing this initiative to fruition will involve ongoing communications to the national EMS community and input from various stakeholders, including a multidisciplinary panel of experts that will advise implementation of the new examination and related processes.

—National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians

NAEMT Announces Diversity Scholarships

The National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians has announced a new diversity scholarship program to help support underrepresented groups in joining the EMS profession. NAEMT will award up to four scholarships of $1,250 that may be used for tuition, fees, and books.

Scholarships will be awarded to students of color who do not hold an EMS certification but who intend to become an EMT or paramedic. Recipients must demonstrate financial need as well as a commitment to community service.

—National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians

NASEMSO, ASTHO Partner on Innovative EMS Opioid Practices

The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and National Association of State EMS Officials (NASEMSO) engaged in a consensus-building process to identify innovative strategies by EMS providers in response to the opioid crisis. Following a two-day meeting of public health officials and EMS representatives in 2020, a nationwide survey was developed and distributed to EMS providers. More than 1,100 responses were analyzed and compiled into a July 2021 ASTHO report, Innovations in Overdose Response: Strategies Implemented by Emergency Medical Services Providers. 

The report states, “EMS agencies are uniquely positioned to link patients with treatment and recovery services if desired.” ASTHO found the most frequent strategies by which EMS providers link patients to care include using a system of care approach; transporting patients to places other than EDs when appropriate (such as treatment centers); administering buprenorphine in the field to the opioid-dependent patient; use of quick-response teams for post-overdose response; use of safe stations (fire stations where people who use drugs can access care 24/7 without fear of arrest); and mobile integrated healthcare. 

Find the report at www.astho.org/.

—National Association of State EMS Officials