How Should We Fund and Reimagine EMS to Support Sustainable Rural Health Infrastructure?

Abstract

Emergency medical services (EMS) care in rural areas of the United States has suffered from being chronically under-resourced and understaffed for many years. Deficits, to a large extent, are due to how EMS is funded and due to shortfalls in staffing and equipment. Licensed volunteers often staff EMS units in rural areas, but recruitment and retention of skilled professional and volunteer caregivers is stifled by waning numbers. If further expansion of our nation's ambulance deserts is to be avoided, policy action must be taken to adequately fund, as well as to reimagine, rural EMS care.