Center for Public Health and Law Policy

Expanding the Roles of Emergency Medical Services Providers: A Legal Analysis (2014)

The Association of the State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) with support from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), seeks to create innovative and realistic opportunities to include emergency medical services (EMS) providers into regular, everyday activities within a wide variety of communities throughout the nation.

This project engages innovative and relevant legal and policy research that will ultimately determine legal obstacles that may hinder the activities of health professionals in routine community paramedicine (CP). CP is a new model of community-based healthcare that is designed to use already existing EMS systems and personnel to enhance access to primary care and reduce overuse of EMS and costs.

As part of this endeavor, Professor James G. Hodge, Jr. and PHLP colleagues reviewed and analyzed the current legal landscape surrounding EMS personnel and investigated laws that expedited or impeded the expanded EMS roles. The report analyzes legal issues underlying the use of expanded EMS activities including authorizing deployment of EMS personnel, liability concerns, scope of practice, standard of care, venue restrictions, medical supervision requirements, and reimbursement.

The resulting report, Expanding the Roles of Emergency Medical Services Providers: A Legal Analysis (2014), reveals new and alternative strategies and resources to expand the roles of EMS systems and personnel to assist medically underserved populations for each identified obstacle.