Podcast | Comms Chair Rob Lawrence on Inside EMS

On May 29's Inside EMS podcast, AAA Communications Chair Rob Lawrence spoke with hosts Chris Cebollero and Kelly Grayson about national EMS issues including reimbursement, ET3, and more. Don't miss it!►

June 16 | EMS ESOP Webinar

How to Use an ESOP in These Turbulent Times June 16 | 14:00 ET | Free Webinar Register Now The COVID-19 pandemic will likely have a financial impact on ambulance services for 2020, 2021, and perhaps for several years beyond. During this era, many private for-profit mobile healthcare providers will be looking for ways to...

House Passes Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act

On May 28, the U.S. House of Representatives passed by a vote of 417 to 1 the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020. The Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 provides small businesses with more flexibility in how the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds established under the CARES Act are spent and still...

Thank You from NYC

Thank you to the dozens of AAA member ambulance services who answered the call to serve in New York City's time of need. This Facebook video from fellow member FDNY shows the final deployed medics heading home. Thank you to the many member organizations who answered the call to serve in the New York and...

WEBINAR: EMS: Patient Care and Operations | Monday, June 1

Our partners at the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response are hosting a COVID-19 Clinical Rounds webinar next week. See below for more information and links to register. And be sure to access the latest COVID-19 information for EMS at the updated COVID-19 Resources for EMS. EMS: Patient Care and Operations Monday,...

FEMA: COVID-19 Guidance for Hurricane Season

FEMA released "COVID-19 Pandemic Operational Guidance for the 2020 Hurricane Season" to help emergency managers and public health officials best prepare for disasters, while continuing to respond to and recover from COVID-19. The guide provides actions emergency managers and public officials can take to prepare for response and recovery operations during ongoing COVID-19 response efforts....

AAA Sends letter on Accelerated Payments

On May 26, the AAA sent a letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar and CMS Administrator Seema Verma, requesting improvements to the Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payment (MAAP) Programs. The nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic is putting an increased financial strain on emergency medical services, and ground ambulance service providers and suppliers already...

Justice Department Responds on PSOB

On April 9, the AAA and the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General William Barr requesting the Department of Justice extend coverage under the Public Safety Officers' Benefits (PSOB) program to all paramedics and EMTs during the COVID-19 national health emergency. While paramedics and EMTs employed...

EPIC Webinar 5/27: Hurricanes & COVID-19

2020 Hurricane Season During COVID-19 Are you prepared for the 2020 hurricane season while the world is also responding to COVID-19? CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health is joining the CDC EPIC Team Wednesday, May 27, at 1 p.m. EST. CDC experts will discuss possible health risks that could come from hurricanes combined with COVID-19;...

CISA Guidance on Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers

ADVISORY MEMORANDUM ON IDENTIFICATION OF ESSENTIAL CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE WORKERS DURING COVID-19 RESPONSE As the Nation comes together to slow the spread of COVID-19, on March 16th the President issued updated Coronavirus Guidance for America that highlighted the importance of the critical infrastructure workforce. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) executes the Secretary of Homeland Security’s authorities...

Virginia | Voices from the front lines of the pandemic in Richmond

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch Wes Wampler wakes at 4:30 a.m. on the days he works as a captain for the Richmond Ambulance Authority. The typical shift, 12 hours at time, two days on, two days off, is anything but typical these days. Though no longer a paramedic, as a captain with 15 years of experience, Wampler...

Washington Examiner | Ambulance Services Crushed by Virus Response

Ambulance services getting crushed by being roped into virus response By David Hogberg Ambulance companies are suffering major financial losses in the coronavirus pandemic because of an interaction between state government regulations and Medicare payment policy. In an effort to combat hospital overcrowding during the coronavirus pandemic, states have required ambulances to treat patients at home if...

NYT | Coronavirus Is Deadliest Where Democrats Live

The staggering American death toll from the coronavirus, now approaching 100,000, has touched every part of the country, but the losses have been especially acute along its coasts, in its major cities, across the industrial Midwest, and in New York City. The devastation, in other words, has been disproportionately felt in blue America, which helps...

NYT | Fear of Covid Leads Other Patients to Decline Critical Treatment

Psychologists say anxiety and uncertainty prompt irrational decisions — like turning down a transplant when an organ becomes available. ...In Newark, emergency medical services teams made 239 on-scene death pronouncements in April, a fourfold increase from April 2019. Fewer than half of those additional deaths could be attributed directly to Covid-19, said Dr. Shereef Elnahal,...

Iowa | Pandemic Could Boost Case for First Responders' 'Essential' Status

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa—As the coronavirus pandemic continues to unfold, Iowa's first responders say the state should no longer hold off on declaring Emergency Medical Services an essential service. That status is something EMS workers in Iowa have sought long before COVID-19. Being declared "essential" would require ambulance service across the state, instead of relying...