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Advocacy Alert! Co-Sponsors Needed for Key EMS Legislation

Brothers and Sosters:

please take a moment and visit the NAEMT Online Legislative System (OLS) and review some key EMS issues. ? From there you can conveniently contact your elected servants and express your concerns. ? Please reach out to each of your elected servants regarding these issues. ??

Also, please share the OLS link with others. ?

The OLS portal is here: ??

I hope to see everyone later this year at the Alabama EMS Conference!?

Respectfully,

kevin Turley?
NAEMT Alabama Advocacy Coordinator?

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I hope you, your families and your colleagues are all doing well. I am very pleased to report to you on our association’s accomplishment in the first half of this year.?

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We?have been actively advocating for EMS agencies and personnel to secure the funding and resources needed to serve their patients and communities. Through our efforts:

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• The Supporting and Improving Rural EMS Needs (SIREN) Reauthorization Act was introduced in the??and a??from 18 Senators was sent asking for increased funding for SIREN grants in 2024.

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• The EMS Counts Act of 2023 was introduced in the??and??to require the Department of Labor to accurately count the number of EMS personnel in the country.

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• Letters were sent to??to ask for EMS workforce development funds for EMS agencies. And, we submitted comments to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on the need for federal help to address the EMS workforce shortage.

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• We sent a??to the Senate Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education to request funding for the EMS for Children Program in 2024.

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• Member advocacy campaigns were conducted to generate support in Congress for our legislation. The campaigns resulted in 5,163 emails sent to 290 members of Congress. Thank you to all members who participated in these campaigns!

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• The results of a?on how EMS economic and operational models have been changing in the face of unprecedented challenges were published.

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• The results of our??were published.

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• ?was held on March 30 at which 240 EMS professionals?from 39 states and the District of Columbia participated in 217 meetings with their members of Congress and staff. We appreciate the efforts of all who were able to walk the halls of the Capitol with us.?

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• The 49th?was promoted across the country.?This year’s theme,?EMS: Where Emergency Care Begins,?highlighted the important contributions of EMS practitioners in safeguarding the health, safety, and well-being of our communities.?

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• A new position statement was adopted by the NAEMT Board calling for the federal government to establish an??within the National Response Framework, decoupling EMS from ESF #8, Public Health and Medical Services.

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• Another new position statement was published calling for the level and quality of??to be standardized across the nation to ensure that fusion centers have consistent access to information and intelligence collected by EMS.

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• A new page was created on the NAEMT web site to provide??to members.

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• Four??were awarded to help students in underrepresented groups to enter the EMS workforce.

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We have been working hard to provide our members with more benefits and services to support their careers and improve their health and well-being.

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• , our latest initiative to inform and engage members, made its debut in February.?Podcasts are published twice a month on trending topics presented by the top leaders and subject matter experts in EMS.

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• The 2024 class of??mentees was selected, joining the first class selected in 2023. Created for our members, the program is designed to match mentees with mentors who can guide and support them in achieving their leadership goals.?

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• Two NAEMT members were awarded and accepted??to advance their careers. Applications for another round of scholarships will be accepted July 15-September 15, 2023.

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• Free webinars with CE credit were offered to members on changes to EMS economic and operational models, best practices in coordinating education courses, navigating CMS compliance with Medicaid supplemental payments, prehospital stroke assessment and treatment, cybersecurity readiness and response, and prehospital trauma standards of care.?More free webinars are planned for the second half of the year.?

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• In gratitude for their service, a raffle was conducted each day during EMS Week for full NAEMT members?in the U.S. Multiple gifts were distributed, with winners announced on the EMS Week??page?of the NAEMT website.

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• To help our members understand and access all of the benefits that come with NAEMT membership, the?Membership Mondays?newsletter?was launched last month. Each monthly issue will highlight a selection of benefits, explaining what members receive and how to access them.?

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• Virtual listening sessions were held in February with our Board members so that members could share their needs, interests, and concerns regarding EMS and NAEMT.?

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• We are working on the development of a new mobile app for our members to notify you of NAEMT courses in your local area, notifications on advocacy campaigns, limited time discounts and your membership status, and easy navigation to your NAEMT member benefits.

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NAEMT?continues to produce?education curricula?and offer programs?to strengthen the knowledge and skills of EMS practitioners:

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• The 10th edition of our PHTLS??was published. I encourage all members to take PHTLSto refresh and enhance your trauma response.

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• NAEMT’s Mental Health Resilience Officer () course?was published in an 8-hour classroom format, an addition to the previously released online format. MHRO assists EMS agencies in building and supporting the mental health resilience of their personnel.?

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• Two additional courses in our?were published:?Endocrine Disorders and Cardiac Disorders. These courses teach participants working as community paramedics how to care for patients diagnosed with cardiac and endocrine disorders.?

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• Courses in development include publication of the 2nd edition All Hazards Disaster Response (AHDR) course, the 3rd?edition GEMS course, a new course to help prepare EMS personnel to serve as their agency’s EMS Safety Officer, the 4th edition of AMLS, the?, and the 10th edition PHTLS Military textbook.?

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These are just some highlights of the tremendous work being accomplished by the hundreds of members who volunteer their time to these projects and keep our association moving with forward momentum. Without their dedicated efforts, these accomplishments would not be possible.

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On behalf of the NAEMT Board, I thank these volunteers and each and every member of NAEMT for your continued support of our mission and the EMS profession.

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Sincerely,

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Susan Bailey, MSEM, NRP

President, NAEMT”

Colleagues,

Please take a moment and visit the NAEMT Online Legislative Service portal and reach out to your elected servants regarding EMS issues. ?The process is simple, quick, and will greatly help our field and the services we provide to our fellow citizens. ?

The link is here: ??

If I can be of any assistance, please let me know. ?

Respectfully,

Kevin Turley?
NAEMT Advocacy Coordinator - Alabama?

The next CMS Ambulance Open Door Forum scheduled for: ? Date:? Thursday, December 1, 2022 Start Time:? 2:00pm-3:00pm PM Eastern Time (ET); Please dial-in at least 15 minutes before call start time. Conference Leaders: Jill Darling, Maria Durham? **This Agenda is Subject to Change** Opening Remarks? Chair- Maria Durham, Director, Division of Data Analysis and Market Based Pricing Moderator – Jill Darling (Office of Communications) Announcements & Updates? ET3 Model updates? Ground Ambulance and Patient Billing Advisory Committee Medicare Ground Ambulance Data Collection System: Calendar Year (CY) 2023 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) Final Rule slide presentation will be available at:?, under Spotlights, Upcoming Events Origin and Destination Requirements Under the Ambulance Fee Schedule During COVID-19 PHE Only:? Rural Emergency Hospitals Ambulance Services: CY 2023 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Payment System Final Rule:??? CY 2023 Ambulance Inflation Factor (AIF) & Productivity Adjustment: III. Open Q&A **DATE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE** Next Ambulance Open Door Forum: TBA ODF email:?AMBULANCEODF@... --------------------------------------------------------------------- This Open Door Forum is open to everyone, but if you are a member of the Press, you may listen in but please refrain from asking questions during the Q & A portion of the call. If you have inquiries, please contact CMS atPress@.... Thank you. Open Door Participation Instructions: This call will be Conference Call Only. To participate by phone: Dial: 1-888-455-1397 & Reference Conference Passcode: 5109694 Persons participating by phone do not need to RSVP. TTY Communications Relay Services are available for the Hearing Impaired.? For TTY services dial 7-1-1 or 1-800-855-2880. A Relay Communications Assistant will help. Instant Replay: 1- 866-410-5843; Conference Passcode: No Passcode needed Instant Replay is an audio recording of this call that can be accessed by dialing 1-866-410-5843 and entering the Conference Passcode beginning 1 hours after the call has ended. The recording is available until December 3, 2022, 11:59PM ET. For ODF schedule updates and E-Mailing List registration, visit our website at?. Were you unable to attend the recent Ambulance ODF call? We encourage you to visit our CMS Podcasts and Transcript webpage where you can listen and view the most recent Ambulance ODF call. The audio and transcript will be posted to:?. CMS provides free auxiliary aids and services including information in accessible formats. Click??for more information. This will point partners to our CMS.gov version of the “Accessibility & Nondiscrimination notice” page. Thank you.

On October 14, 2022, CMS issued?11642 (Change Request 12948), which announced the Medicare Ambulance Inflation Factor (AIF) for the calendar year 2023.

The AIF is calculated by measuring the increase in the consumer price index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) for the 12-month period ending with June of the previous year.? Starting in the calendar year 2011, the change in the CPI-U is now reduced by a so-called “productivity adjustment”, which is equal to the 10-year moving average of changes in the economy-wide private nonfarm business multi-factor productivity index (MFP).? The MFP reduction may result in a negative AIF for any calendar year.? The resulting AIF is then added to the conversion factor used to calculate Medicare payments under the Ambulance Fee Schedule.

For the 12-month period ending in June 2022, the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has calculated that the CPI-U increased by 9.1%.? CMS further indicated that the CY 2023 MFP would be 0.4%.??Accordingly, CMS indicated that the Ambulance Inflation Factor for the calendar year 2023 will be 8.7%.??

This is the largest inflation update since the implementation of the current Medicare Ambulance Fee Schedule in April 2002.? The increase from last year’s 5.1% increase is also the single largest year-over-year increase on record.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to let us know.

NAEMT Advocacy Team