Webinar: A Report From the Front Lines of the COVID-19 Response

Written by AAA Staff on March 20, 2020. Posted in Operations, Patient Care, Professional Standards, Webinars.

FREE WEBINAR

A Report From the Front Lines of the COVID-19 Response

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A Report from the Front Lines – What the 911 provider for New Rochelle, NY and the largest ambulance service provider in the U.S. have learned and what you should know to protect your staff and serve your communities

Join Dr. Ed Racht, Chief Medical Officer, and Randy Strozyk, Executive Vice President Operations for Global Medical Response and Hanan Cohen, Director of MIH-CP and Jim O’Connor, Vice President for Empress Ambulance Service for a compelling webinar straight from the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. The panelists will discuss workforce safety and wellness, treatment and transport changes, lessons learned, and the challenge of providing services in some of the hardest-hit areas of our country.

View Global Medical Response’s COVID-19 resource site►

Presenters:

Ed Racht, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer, Global Medical Response

Dr. Ed Racht has been involved in Emergency Medical Services and healthcare systems for more than 30 years. He currently serves as Chair of the Texas EMS, Trauma and Acute Care Foundation, an organization that provides advocacy, strategic planning and healthcare system credentialing in the State of Texas.

Dr. Racht has been Chief Medical Officer for American Medical Response (AMR) since 2010. Prior to this role, he served as the Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Medical Affairs for Piedmont Newnan Hospital in metro Atlanta. Dr. Racht was the first full-time Medical Director for the Austin/Travis County Emergency Medical Services System, where he spent 13 years. The System was nationally recognized in the Institute of Medicine’s Report on the state of emergency care for its collaborative approach to challenging healthcare integration issues.

Dr. Racht received his undergraduate and medical degree from Emory University in Atlanta and completed his residency at the Medical College of Virginia.

Dr. Racht is the recipient of numerous awards including being named EMS Medical Director of the Year for the State of Texas, the American Heart Association’s Paul Ledbetter MD Physician Volunteer of the Year Award and was named a “Hero of Emergency Medicine” in 2008 by the American College of Emergency Physicians. In 2015, he was the first recipient of the Joseph P. Ornato Excellence in Clinical Leadership Award, and in 2011 received the Slovis Award for Educational Excellence by the U.S. Metropolitan Municipalities Medical Director Consortium. He is also the third Inductee in the Texas EMS, Trauma and Acute Care Foundation Hall of Fame.

Randy Strozyk
Executive Vice President of Operations, Global Medical Response

Randy Strozyk has been a leader in emergency medical services for more than 40 years and is an integral part of the GMR/AMR executive team. As SVP of Executive Operations, he is engaged in our overall operations and specific areas such as internal and external integration and our event Medical Services. He has extensive experience in EMS operations and management. He is a long time member of the American Ambulance Association and is presently the AAA Secretary. Strozyk began his career as a paramedic. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in microbiology from Washington State University and an MBA from California State University.

Jim O’Connor
Vice President, Empress Ambulance Service

Jim O’Connor is the Vice President of Empress Ambulance of Yonkers, New York. Empress is part of the PatientCare EMS Solutions organization. He has been involved in the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) for over four decades and was one of the first paramedics in Westchester County, New York.

Empress is the contracted provider of 911 emergency medical services (EMS) for the cities of New Rochelle, Yonkers, White Plains and Mount Vernon. Empress has a staff of over 500 employees and has been operating in Westchester County since 1985. They also provide all levels of inter-facility ambulance transportation services for some of the most prestigious hospital systems in the New York metropolitan area.

Jim has been active with many EMS organizations and has held Board positions locally, regionally and on a national level. He was a founding member and first Chairman of the Westchester County Regional EMS Council and has served on the Hudson Valley Regional EMS Council, the New York State EMS Council and the American Ambulance Association in Washington, D.C.

Hanan Cohen
Director of MIH-CP, Empress Ambulance Service

Hanan Cohen is the Director of Corporate Development and Community Paramedicine at Empress EMS a large progressive regional ambulance service and EMS provider. He is a Paramedic and Community Paramedic with 30 years’ experience in EMS and Hospital Administration. His focus has been on new program design and application. He has been the administrator for multiple hospital clinical departments as well as a Level 1 Trauma Center. His EMS career has included, rural, suburban and urban EMS systems.

He has spent the past several years researching, developing and implementing MIH-CP programs at Empress EMS providing collaborative community health programs with multiple hospitals in Westchester County and New York City. He is a Certified Ambulance Compliance Officer and member of the American Ambulance Association Payment Reform Committee.

COVID-19 Update II for EMS

Written by Rob Lawrence on March 9, 2020. Posted in Emergency Preparedness, Patient Care, Regulatory.

First Case of 2019 Novel Coronavirus in the United States

The New England Journal of Medicine has rapidly published a peer-reviewed paper on the Snohomish County WA ‘Patient 1’. This was the first reported case of COVID 19 in the US. This seminal document, which given the magnitude of the case and its initial findings is released in full here

The work by Michelle L. Holshue, M.P.H., Chas DeBolt, M.P.H., Scott Lindquist, M.D., Kathy H. Lofy, et al for the Washington State 2019-nCoV Case Investigation Team was turned round in just over 5 weeks and below is an ‘Executive summary’ ( as extracted from the paper) but the full paper and range of results should be read in full.

Patient Presentation

On January 19, 2020, a 35-year-old man presented to an urgent care clinic in Snohomish County, Washington, with a 4-day history of cough and subjective fever. On checking into the clinic, the patient put on a mask in the waiting room. After waiting approximately 20 minutes, he was taken into an examination room and underwent evaluation by a provider. He disclosed that he had returned to Washington State on January 15 after traveling to visit family in Wuhan, China. The patient stated that he had seen a health alert from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about the novel coronavirus outbreak in China and, because of his symptoms and recent travel, decided to see a health care provider.

On admission, the patient reported persistent dry cough and a 2-day history of nausea and vomiting; he reported that he had no shortness of breath or chest pain. Vital signs were within normal ranges. On physical examination, the patient was found to have dry mucous membranes. The remainder of the examination was generally unremarkable. After admission, the patient received supportive care, including 2 liters of normal saline and ondansetron for nausea.

Viral Presence

Both upper respiratory specimens obtained on illness day 7 remained positive for 2019-nCoV, including persistent high levels in a nasopharyngeal swab specimen (Ct values, 23 to 24).

Stool obtained on illness day 7 was also positive for 2019-nCoV (Ct values, 36 to 38).

Nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal specimens obtained on illness days 11 and 12 showed a trend toward decreasing levels of virus

Day 8: Condition Improves

On hospital day 8 (illness day 12), the patient’s clinical condition improved. Supplemental oxygen was discontinued, and his oxygen saturation values improved to 94 to 96% while he was breathing ambient air. The previous bilateral lower-lobe rales were no longer present. His appetite improved, and he was asymptomatic aside from intermittent dry cough and rhinorrhea. As of January 30, 2020, the patient remains hospitalized. He is afebrile, and all symptoms have resolved with the exception of his cough, which is decreasing in severity.

History Taking

This case report highlights the importance of clinicians eliciting a recent history of travel or exposure to sick contacts in any patient presenting for medical care with acute illness symptoms, in order to ensure appropriate identification and prompt isolation of patients who may be at risk for 2019-nCoV infection and to help reduce further transmission. Finally, this report highlights the need to determine the full spectrum and natural history of clinical disease, pathogenesis, and duration of viral shedding associated with 2019-nCoV infection to inform clinical management and public health decision making.

Conclusion

There is little doubt that this paper is about to become a globally sited document as we continue to deal with COVID 19. As far as EMS and our first response to it goes, the paper reinforces the key actions currently being taken

Sample COVID-19 Policies for Mobile Healthcare Providers

Thank you to the following organizations for sharing their policies as examples.

Global Medical Response maintains a COVID-19 page to provide information to all members of the GMR community—clinicians and non-clinicians.

Updates from GMR Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Ed Racht

GMR Procedures

General Information for Caregivers

Protecting the Healthcare Worker (Alex Isakov, M.D.) (video)
EMS Infectious Disease Playbook
Emerging Infectious Disease Surveillance Tool
(This protocol developed and approved by IAED’s CBRN Fast Track Committee of the Council of Standards)
Interim Guidance for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Systems
Interim Infection Control Guidance for Prehospital EMS
Know the Facts

Compliance

HIPAA Reminder

FirstWatch Solutions

The intention of the COVID-19 Process/Policy Template is to provide agencies, medical directors, or others who want to utilize it, an outline/template on which to build an agency-specific policy/protocol to address COVID-19. This includes suggestions for development and/or oversight committees, outside partners and stakeholders, as well as preparation and process for EMS workers who provide best practice care for patients as well as providing for the protection of pre-hospital providers and medical director(s). Its application is totally up to the user.

This document is meant to be a living document that can be revised as circumstances or guidance changes. It can also be a discussion piece for those who choose to develop a different type of policy but may want to use some of the components of the document as a starting point.

Agency Guidance

CDC Interim Guidance for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Systems and 911 Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) for COVID-19 in the United States

NEW March 6, 2020: CMS COVID-19 FAQs for Healthcare Providers (PDF Download)

March 5, 2020: CMS issued a second Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) code for certain COVID-19 laboratory tests, in addition to three fact sheets about coverage and benefits for medical services related to COVID-19 for CMS programs. https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cms-develops-additional-code-coronavirus-lab-tests

March 4, 2020: CMS issued a call to action to healthcare providers nationwide and offered important guidance to help State Survey Agencies and Accrediting Organizations prioritize their inspections of healthcare. https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cms-announces-actions-address-spread-coronavirus

February 13, 2020: CMS issued a new HCPCS code for providers and laboratories to test patients for COVID-19. https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/public-health-news-alert-cms-develops-new-code-coronavirus-lab-test

February 6, 2020: CMS gave CLIA-certified laboratories information about how they can test for SARS-CoV-2. https://www.cms.gov/medicareprovider-enrollment-and-certificationsurveycertificationgeninfopolicy-and-memos-states-and/notification-surveyors-authorization-emergency-use-cdc-2019-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-real-time-rt

February 6, 2020: CMS issued a memo to help the nation’s healthcare facilities take critical steps to prepare for COVID-19. https://www.cms.gov/medicareprovider-enrollment-and-certificationsurveycertificationgeninfopolicy-and-memos-states-and/information-healthcare-facilities-concerning-2019-novel-coronavirus-illness-2019-ncov

Tag: Global Medical Response (GMR)