Funding Opportunities for Building Data Connections Between EMS and Healthcare Partners

EMS providers often treat patients with complicated medical histories yet have no access to relevant health data, such as hospital or out-patient records, which might provide information critical to patient care. EMS reports also are rarely integrated into hospital records, leaving specialists and other hospital staff unaware of how patients presented to EMS initially and what treatments they received prior to arriving at the emergency department.

Health IT is a proven tool that can help EMS providers and hospitals exchange patient data to provide decision support in the field, prepare the hospital for a patient’s arrival and contribute to a better longitudinal health record. 

Earlier this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a guidance letter that allows the use of Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) funds for expenditures related to electronically connecting Eligible Providers to other Medicaid providers, including EMS, to share health information. 

On Wednesday, September 14, 2016, at 2:00 PM EST, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Office of EMS will host a webinar to discuss the implications of the CMS guidance letter for EMS. Speakers will include Thomas Novak and Rachel Abbey, MPH, with the ONC, and Noah Smith, MPH, EMT, with the NHTSA Office of EMS.

Topics to be covered include:

• The HITECH Act and the implications of the State Medicaid Director Letter 16-003 for EMS
• How to leverage the Medicaid HITECH 90/10 Funding
• Possible EMS activities that could be funded under Medicaid HITECH 90/10 funding

Register for the webinar here.

Attendees will be encouraged to participate in an open question-and-answer session, with the webinar and Q&A lasting approximately one hour. The EMS Focus webinar series provides a venue to discuss critical initiatives, issues and challenges for EMS stakeholders nationwide. Recordings of each webinar are available for viewing on the NHTSA Office of EMS website.

About the Office of EMS

NHTSA’s Office of EMS advances EMS by collecting and analyzing critical data about state and local systems, and by fostering collaboration among national, state, and local agencies engaged in guiding, improving, and standardizing EMS nationwide.