EMS Associations - Are they working for YOU?

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Permalink Reply by Robin Renfrew on April 7, 2009 at 7:20pm

John,

I agree with your analogy, but here's another problem I see...

How many different national organizations claim to represent the EMTs? How many of these same organizations have the political clout like the IAFF or the FOP? We have no less than 4 different groups saying that they represent the average American EMT. Unless we get ONE SINGULAR group with the political clout that the aforementioned fraternal organizations have, we might as well be up the creek with a broken paddle. EMS is losing out on the federal support we so desperately need...not to mention the reimbursement money from insurance companies. If we had just ONE organization, with our own lobbyists, maybe we could make a difference.

Any more thoughts??

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Permalink Reply by John W. Magyar on April 8, 2009 at 2:02am

Robin,
Thanks for your post. Fortunately, there is a great natl. EMS organization called AEMS (Advocates for EMS) They do have a lobbying group which is very active in communicating with our fed. congressmen and senators. Their website http://www.advocatesforems.org/index.aspx is very informative and there are many good resource documents available. Many other organizations and businesses have partnered with AEMS and this makes it a strong organization with some intelligent people running the show.
I would also like to mention that the AAP (Amb. Assn. of Pa) (Their address is www.aa-pa.org/ ) has done some great work for EMS. AAP was very instrumental in getting Pa. Med. Assistance to increase their fees a few years back. Although the current MA fee is approx. 50% less than Medicare and Medicare is 6% below cost to operate, it was a blessing to get 100% increase from MA after about 10 years of the fee being $60. for BLS emergencies. AAP has just introduced an individual membership program which allows EMTs and Paramedics to become individual members vs the old system of just allowing organizations to join. I believe this is a great opportunity for EMS personnel in Pa. to become directly involved in the decision making processes that affect our industry.
One of the easiest ways to increase reimbursements from insurance companies and MA is through a strong state assn. and our state lawmakers. We all need to get on the same page and get our list of "needs" in front of the state congressmen and senators. To do this, we all need to ban together and be heard. Currently, Workman's comp. insurance (in Pa) only allows EMS to collect 110% of Medicare approved rate, (according to Act 44) Pa. Auto insurance Companies only have to pay EMS 113% of Medicare approved rate (Act 6). If we could get our lawmakers to understand that EMS can't survive on such paltry reimbursements by Pa. Med. Assist., Workman's Comp and Auto insurance companies, we might have a chance of surviving. If we don't educate the lawmakers that these substandard reimbursements are killing our EMS system, how are they to know there is a problem till people start dying because there is little or no EMS left in a community? In Lycoming county, we provided an EMS Legislative Workshop to let our local, state and federal elected officials know that EMS was facing a crisis. There was alot of interest and this led us to phase ll of our plan which was to set up an EMS Recruit., Retention and Reimbursement Task Force involving EMS and community leaders. EMS can't do it alone. We need to educate the public and gain their support. We need them to understand our problems and the solutions and join us in communicating our needs to our elected officials. Lets face it; we are at the mercy of our state government. That said, the only way to get any positive change is through our elected state officials.
I'll jump off my soapbox now. I hope what I've stated is clear to all who read my post. If not, I'll be happy to answer any questions anyone may have.
Be safe out there. John

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