IAEMSc NEWs
William H. Sugiyama MA, NREMT/P Named 2009 - Intermedix IAEMSC Harvard Fellow
The International Association of Emergency Medical Services Chiefs today announced the selection of Alameda County (CA) Emergency Medical Services Pre-Hospital Care Coordinator William H. Sugiyama as the Intermedix IAEMSC Harvard Fellow of 2009.
William Sugiyama was selected from a competitive pool of highly qualified candidates from throughout the United States for this highest honor for leaders in the field of Emergency Medical Services. His longstanding contributions to the discipline of EMS and commitment to the advancement of the EMS discipline distinguished him from his peers.
IAEMSC Staunchly Opposes the City of Columbus, Ohio Proposal to Trade Patient Safety for Marginal fiscal Savings
The Officers and Board of Directors for the International Association of
Emergency Medical Service Chiefs (IAEMSC) today announced their unanimous staunch opposition
to the proposed reduction of service by the City of Columbus (OH) from a high performance
Advanced Life Support (ALS) provider to a reduced capacity Basic Life Support (BLS) response
program.
Mayor Michael Coleman, with the support of City Council President Michael Mentel, and other members of Council, commissioned the Columbus Economic Advisory Committee (EAC) to analyze the fiscal condition of the City. In the EAC report released on March 5, 2009 the recommendations for fiscal savings is a proposal to reduce the level and quality of patient care to the community. This proposal is an “ill conceived & short sighted” cost saving strategy that will have untenable negative impact upon the health and safety of the community if instituted.
Our review of this document found that of the fifteen (15) committee members none are medical professionals. The decision to alter a medical standard of care is a serious decision that requires informed deliberations and the expertise of the medical community to reach an appropriate medically based conclusion. Anything short of that professional paradigm is reminiscent of a quick fix scheme that marginalizes the protection of the community and diminishes the importance of having medical professionals driving policy that impacts medical practice.
The present standard of care in Columbus is a robust Paramedic provider ALS system provided through the City of Columbus Fire Department. This system is one of the original four advanced life support systems in the United States. The suggested devolution of the standard of care does not alter the fact that the Columbus Fire Department will have highly trained and dedicated firefighter/paramedics in their employment that will now be prohibited from practicing their skills at the highest level of their competency. This concept is counter intuitive to effective management of available resources and good governance.
Columbus has a long and distinguished history of leading the nation in the provision of state of
the art EMS response. Alteration and degradation of the service level & quality to a lesser
standard will jeopardize the health and well being of the community.
For additional information and media contact:
Jeanne Benincasa
IAEMSC Executive Director
jeanne.benincasa@iaemsc.org
1‐877‐442‐3672
Harvard Scholarship for Summer 2009 Kennedy School Senior Executives in State & Local Government Program
The International Association of Emergency Medical Service Chiefs (IAEMSC) and Intermedix
Corporation of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida today announced the opening of the application period for the
Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s Senior Executives in State and Local Government
program for the summer of 2009.
The scholarship provides funding for one EMS executive to attend the program without cost to
him/her or their EMS organization. The selected IAEMSC scholar’s agency is responsible for
granting the selected recipient the time to attend this intensive twenty-one day in-residence program
in either June or July of 2009. Applicants must be an IAEMSC member in good standing with a
current membership valid through at least December 31, 2009. An applicant must have obtained at a
minimum a Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college or university.
IAEMSC member participation in this program is made possible by the continued generous support
provided by Intermedix Corporation.
The scholarship winner will be named on or about May 15, 2009.
Development of the National Emergency Medical Services Health Surveillance Data Base
The International Association of Emergency Medical Service Chiefs (IAEMSC) and Intermedix Corporation of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida are pleased to announce a joint project to develop the first ever National Emergency Medical Services Health Surveillance System.
Currently there lack an organized national repository of data related to occupational illness, injury or deaths
of all EMS providers in the United States. Although some states have rudimentary reporting processes and
deaths are reported to the Occupational Safety & Health Administration, there is no central data base
whereby EMS organizations of all system configurations can report occupational illness, injuries and
deaths.
This project will enable EMS organizations from the United States to voluntarily report occupational illness, injury and deaths using a common web-based tool. By capturing data from EMS organizations across the country, the IAEMSC will be able to conduct research with the aim of reducing the number of illnesses, injuries and deaths which occur each year to the EMS providers across the United States.
The systems will allow EMS organizations to set up an organizational profile and secure log-in. Once the profile is established, they can log in and submit specific information related to on-the-job illness, injury or death.
For specific questions please contact the Project Manager:
Geoffrey Miller at Geoffrey.Miller@IAEMSC.org.
About Intermedix Corporation
Intermedix helps fund and support our nation's emergency safety net - emergency physicians, hospital emergency departments, and 9-11emergency responders.We engineer advanced technologies into our business processes to meet incident documentation requirements, realize revenue potential, and provide advanced informatics to our customers. Our solution are designed to performance and compliance, allowing our customers to focus on saving lives and promoting healthy recoveries from accidents and illnesses.
Intermedix serves the emergency physician and hospital emergency department market through its subsidiary EPBS, the emergency medical services (ambulance) market through its subsidiary ADPI, and the fire response market through its subsidiary Revenue Rescue. Intermedix has clients throughout the United States and has collected billions of dollars for its clients since its founding.
