2023 Mentorship Guide for EMS
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orPlease either Join!
orThe American Ambulance Association has submitted comments to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) in response to their request for input on crafting legislation to address the health care workforce shortage.
Ground ambulance service organizations are facing a severe shortage of paramedics and EMTs which is placing a significant strain on an emergency medical system already in financial distress. We greatly appreciate the opportunity to provide our legislative solutions to the committee to help address the ongoing workforce crisis.
Please see the document linked below, which was sent to the HELP Committee Chairman, Senator Bernie Sanders, and the Ranking Member, Senator Bill Cassidy.
3-17-2023 HELP Workforce Comments
From the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians
NAEMT is pleased to present the results of our 2022 National Survey on EMS Workforce Engagement and Satisfaction. Earlier this year, NAEMT asked our members and other EMS practitioners about various aspects of their jobs, including pay, how well supported they feel by employers, and if they had plans to leave the profession. In nearly 1,300 responses, EMS practitioners painted a picture of a workforce that remains dedicated to caring for patients and serving the community, but is under a high degree of strain. They also shared their ideas for how EMS agencies could improve engagement and satisfaction. We thank the following members of NAEMT’s EMS Workforce Committee for their contributions to the survey: Robert Luckritz, Aaron Florin, Garrett Hedeen, Julius Jackson, Lawson Stuart, Mark Ponder, Mike Szczygiel and Mike Thomas. NAEMT also thanks FirstNet, Built with AT&T, for its generous sponsorship of the report.
Message from AAA President Shawn Baird
The paramedic and EMT shortage has become a top policy priority of the AAA as we pursue several short and long-term initiatives to address this unprecedented crisis. Over the last several months, the AAA has been working closely with Members of the Senate Appropriations Problem Committee and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) to secure a grant program that would assist ground ambulance service organizations in hiring and retaining paramedics and EMTs. I am extremely pleased to report that the Fiscal Year 2023 Senate HHS appropriations package includes the program language for which the AAA has been advocating.
The language in the Senate Report reads:
EMS Preparedness and Response Workforce Shortage Program.— The Committee recognizes that our Nation is facing a crippling EMS workforce shortage which threatens public health and jeopardizes our ability to respond to healthcare emergencies on a timely basis. ASPR should prioritize ensuring a well-trained and adequate ground ambulance services workforce in underserved, rural, and Tribal areas and/or addressing health disparities related to accessing prehospital ground ambulance healthcare services, including critical care transport.
In the House, the AAA’s efforts contributed to House appropriators increasing the ASPR account funding for the Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP) (more than $30 million). We anticipate that ASPR would focus its efforts to address the ground ambulance workforce shortage through the HPP, so this increase in funding is also a critical component of the AAA’s efforts.
Although the appropriations process has many more steps to go through before final passage, having the EMS workforce shortage highlighted in the Senate report is a critical step toward achieving our goal to provide ground ambulance services across the country with the help they need during this unprecedent time.
The AAA will continue to work closely with Congressional champions and the ASPR team as they shepherd this language through the next steps in the process. I would like to thank Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chair Patty Murray (D-WA), Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Susan Collins (R-ME), Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Ranking Members Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) for championing and supporting the effort.
AAA President
Shawn Baird
The American Ambulance Association is partnering with Newton 360, an ambulance industry partner and Human Resource support firm, to conduct our fourth annual industry turnover study. Our intent is to comprehensively collect and analyze ambulance industry employee turnover data so as to produce a report that provides useful and actionable data. We are inviting EMS organizations to participate in the study. The study will be conducted and managed by Dennis Doverspike, PhD, and Rosanna Miguel, PhD, who are associated with the Center for Applied Talent Analytics at John Carroll University. Each individual or organizational response will be strictly confidential.
The purpose of the study is to better quantify and understand the reasons for turnover at nearly every organizational level within the EMS Industry. Thank you very much for your time and support.
Why participate in the survey?
It is recommended you gather information about your employees and about turnover before completing the questionnaire.
In this survey, we will be asking about headcount (filled and open positions), number of employees leaving the organization, and reasons for employees leaving. We will be asking these questions for each of the following job categories: supervisor, dispatch, EMT, part-time EMT, paramedic, and part-time paramedic. Headcount refers to the number of filled and open positions for each job category at the end of 2021. Filled positions refer to the number of employees in each job category that were on payroll at the end of 2021. For each job category, the number of filled positions should be added to the number of open positions at the end of 2021 to determine the total headcount.
The survey can be accessed by following the link below. It will open on July 5th, 2022, and close at end of day, July 15th, 2022.
https://johncarroll.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3gtyd4SaQnkevvU
Thank you,
Scott Moore, Esq.
Newton 360
Workforce Dynamics, Inc.
(781) 236-4411 office
(781) 771-9914 cellular
www.newton360.com
Fantastic Bloomberg Radio interview with President Shawn Baird covering key causes and impacts of the EMS workforce shortage.
Balance of Power Podcast • Browse all episodes
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2022-02-11/balance-of-power-ems-worker…
Balance of Power: EMS Worker Shortage Crisis (Radio)
Shawn Baird, President of the American Ambulance Association, discusses the shortage of emergency medical workers and paramedics. He spoke with Bloomberg’s David Westin.
Yesterday, the American Ambulance Association Board of Directors approved the Association’s advocacy priorities for 2022. Our key initiatives reflect the challenges we face this year, including short-sighted threats to EMS balance billing, a worsening workforce shortage, the expiration of the temporary Medicare increases, and potential sequestration cuts.
We also continue to fight for you as you care for people first on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. We will sustain our efforts at securing additional funding for ground ambulance services to help address the increased costs of providing medical care and transport during the Public Health Emergency.
To achieve our collective goals, the AAA Board will need to mobilize the full voice of influence of the EMS community this year. If you have not already sent an email using the AAA advocacy system to your members of Congress, please do so today!
Staff will be reaching out to you at key points later in the year about letter writing for specific individual policy requests. But it is important that they hear from you now on all the top issues for ground ambulance services. They are:
With the persistent shortage of ground ambulance service field personnel raising to a crisis level with the COVID-19 pandemic, the AAA moved the issue to a top policy priority. The AAA is currently working with key Congressional Committees of jurisdiction to hold hearings on the EMS workforce shortage. We are also developing legislation to specifically target increasing access for ground ambulance service organizations to federal programs and funding for the retention and training of health care personnel.
The AAA successfully educated the Congress on the role of local government oversight and other unique characteristics of providing ground ambulance service organizations. As a result, the Congress directed the establishment of a Ground Ambulance and Balance Billing Advisory Committee to address the issue. The Committee is in the process of being formed and then has 180 days in which to make recommendations to the Congress. The AAA will be involved with the Committee and advocating that the Congress implement policies that meet the needs of our members.
The AAA is advocating for additional financial assistance for ground ambulance service organizations to help address the increased costs of labor and other higher costs associated with providing health care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The temporary Medicare ambulance increases of 2% urban, 3% rural and the super rural bonus payment expire at the end of the year. The AAA will continue to push for passage of the provisions of the Preserving Access to Ground Ambulance Medical Services Act (S. 2037, H.R. 2454) before the provisions expire as well as for the adoption of language to ensure truly rural areas remain rural following changes to geographical designations based on the 2020 census.
The Congress delayed the additional 4% sequestration cut for only one yea. The AAA is working with other EMS and health care provider and supplier groups to permanently prevent the cut from going into effect as well as further extending the moratorium on the long-standing 2% cut.
With the 2-year delay of ambulance data collection due to the pandemic, the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee (MedPAC) will have little to no data to analyze in March 2023 in which to make recommendations to the Congress on Medicare ambulance payment policy and rates. The AAA is asking the Congress to push back the date of the MedPAC report and also expand the modified data collection timeline of two years to the intended four years.
On behalf of my fellow board members, I again thank you for your continued membership and participation. We look forward to serving you for many years to come.
Should you have any questions regarding our advocacy priorities, please contact AAA Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Tristan North at tnorth@ambulance.org.
Please either Join!
orOur nation’s EMS infrastructure is at risk. Ground ambulance service organizations are facing a financial crisis due to the lack of adequate reimbursement for their services and a crippling shortage of paramedics and EMTs. If Congress does not act soon, the situation will become worse with an additional 4% sequestration cut for all Medicare providers and suppliers including for ground ambulance services. Our nation’s 9-1-1 EMS infrastructure is at risk.
Place follow the link below to contact your members of Congress and ask that they protect ground emergency and non-emergency ambulance services in our communities.
Part of any successful recruitment and retention strategy is having a competitive compensation and benefits package. This is achieved most successfully by providing employees with a Total Compensation Statement.
A Total Compensation Statement communicates and provides an employee with a picture of the value of an employee’s compensation package, including wages and other costs which are typically shown in an employee’s paystub. However, a Total Compensation Statement shows the hidden costs, many paid by the employer on behalf of the employee, such as employer-paid healthcare, retirement, payroll taxes, and other supplements that employers provide. The purpose is to provide employees with the full picture of compensation and arm them with information about how your organization stacks up against your competitors.
Attached are two samples of Total Compensation Forms that can be used by AAA member companies. The forms offer the ability for our members to personalize by inserting their company logo. These are typically issued on a quarterly, bi-annual, or yearly basis.
Total Compensation and Benefits Statement
The Total Compensation and Benefits Statement is a fillable PDF form that performs the calculations as you enter the different compensation-related items. The costs are shown in two columns, one for the employee wages and other costs, and the other for the often-hidden cost paid by the employer on the employee’s behalf.
Total Compensation Calculation Spreadsheet
The Total Compensation Calculation Spreadsheet is also a fillable PDF form that performs the calculations as you enter the different compensation-related items. There is a column that allows the employer to provide a Description of the benefit item listed. The costs are shown in two columns, one for the employee wages and other costs, and the other for the often-hidden cost paid by the employer on the employee’s behalf.
About the AAA Workforce Committee
The AAA Workforce Committee was formed by the AAA Board of Directors with the committee charge to evaluate and assist AAA member companies with the factors that impact the recruitment and retention of qualified EMS employees. If there are compensation or benefit items that we failed to include that you believe should be part of these documents, please let us know!
Send your feedback to hello@ambulance.org.