It ’s Not the Money that Keeps a Community Paramedicine Coordinator Awake at Night

How innovation spreads across an industry—especially when it comes to technology adoption—aligns along five phases: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards.1 The same is true of toys, cars and healthcare practices. Mobile integrated healthcare/community paramedicine (MIH-CP) is arguably in an early majority stage now, having been a topic of fascination for years despite few successful long-term case studies. The discipline has a ways to go before it is mature but it’s no longer a novelty. Indeed, EMS and fire agencies in more locales than ever have the authorization to engage in readmission avoidance, non-transport, and alternate site (non-hospital) transport, and payers like Anthem and states like Minnesota and Arizona have some form of payment for MIH-CP—under one brand name or another (e.g., “Community Paramedicine,” “Treat & Refer,” etc.) The industry is seeing less-committed programs shake out. At the same time, programs that have taken the time to build a sustainable (even profitable) path forward, using data to demonstrate efficacy and establishing a network of partners to provide both referrals and destinations, are achieving regional significance in light of their success. But what defines a “successful” MIH-CP program? Endless grant funding? A supportive chief or medical director? A hospital that sees so much value in the model that it seeks to internalize the program as an extension of case management? Serving ...
Source: JEMS Special Topics - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Columns Exclusive Articles Mobile Integrated Healthcare Source Type: news