SMEMSIC News

We have been working on our committee structure by changing the way we maintain committee membership lists and the way we distribute information about each committees work.  You will find a committee application/interest form on our committee pages to fill out if you are interested in serving on a committee.  We are asking everyone to fill out this form if you wish to serve on a committee even if you believe you are already a member of a committee.  This will allow us to maintain more accurate records as we transfer the keeping of committee lists from the chair person of each committee to our main office.  This will allow us to better communicate with committee members.  You will find links to detailed information on each of our committees on our committee home page.  We are also posting information on all committee activities on each of the committee discussion forum pages.  You will find links to each committee discussion forum, as well as other SMEMSIC forums, on our forum home page.  We are excited about the work we can accomplish with this new committee structure and committee discussion forums.

During the reauthorization of the Ryan White Care Act in 2006, the
emergency-response provisions that mandates that source patient test
results be provided to the designated infection control officer (DICO)
of the emergency response employee involved in an exposure incident were
removed. State hospital associations were quick in advising their
constituents that providing such information to emergency responders
could represent a violation of HIPAA.  Since that time, many “first
responder” organizations (including NASEMSO through Advocates for EMS)
have been working with Congressional staff to have these provisions
reinstated, including revised language to include provisions for other
infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, hepatitis C, pandemic
influenza, and clarifying language on rapid testing…

Well, that has finally occurred —  please see the following summary
for your information.  I have also attached a copy of the act.

Ryan White Act

The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment and Extension Act of 2009 passed the
House yesterday by a vote of 408 to 9.  The Senate passed the bill
earlier this week so the bill now goes to President Obama for his
signature into law. There are several new additions to the Ryan White
Act which affect emergency care - and specifically emergency responders.


It is important to note that the ‘list’ established under Sec. 2695
is very powerful - it essentially determines what infectious diseases
should be considered ‘potentially life-threatening’. The list is
also used to determine whether or not emergency responders must be
notified of an exposure.  

The entire bill can be found at this link http://bit.ly/2YZs1o

Here are the sections affecting emergency care and emergency
responders:

The bill adds a new section to Ryan White - “Part G Notification of
Possible Exposure to Infectious Diseases”

Within 180 days after enactment, Section 2695 Requires the Secretary of
HHS to complete the development of:

1.  a list of potentially life-threatening infectious diseases,
including emerging infectious diseases, to which emergency response
employees may be exposed in responding to emergencies (The list
developed shall also include a specification of those infectious
diseases on the list that are routinely transmitted through airborne or
aerosolized means.)
2.  guidelines describing the circumstances in which such employees may
be exposed to such diseases, taking into account the conditions under
which emergency response is provided;
3.  guidelines describing the manner in which medical facilities should
make determinations when an emergency responder is requesting a
determination as to whether or not a patient he/she transported had an
infectious disease

This list will then be distributed to the public and the states

NOTE: This list is very important because it is relied heavily upon in
determining whether or not a responder has been exposed to an infectious
disease.

The bill also reestablishes some of the notification provisions that
were struck during the last Ryan White authorization. This is good news
for emergency responders. Specifically, the bill requires Prompt
notification - not later than 48 hours after determination is made - to
emergency responders when:

A patient is transported and it is determined that the patient has an
airborne infectious disease AND WHEN
A patient that is transported by emergency responders dies at or before
reaching the medical facility, the medical facility ascertaining the
cause of death shall notify the designated officer of the emergency
response employees who transported the victim to the initial medical
facility of any determination by the medical facility that the victim
had an airborne infectious disease.

The bill also contains a provision for emergency responders to request
a determination as to whether or not a patient had an infectious
disease. Basically the provision states that:

1.  The employee must first make a request
2.  The request is then examined, facts are collected by a designated
officer
3.  The designated officer then makes a determination - if the
designated officer feels that an exposure may have occurred then he/she
submits a request to the medical facility
4.  Once the medical facility receives the request, it has 48 hours to
respond
5.  The medical facility will make a determination, based on the
information possessed by the facility, regarding whether or not the
emergency responder was exposed to an infectious disease that appears on
the list (created above).
6.  The medical facility can make 3 determinations, Notification of
Exposure, Finding of No Exposure, Insufficient information
7.  If a finding of insufficient information is made, the public health
officer for the community in which the medical facility is located can
also evaluate the request if the designated officer submits the request
to him/her.

Superior Medical Education is looking for paramedic IC's to act as subs when needed for the 2009-10 school year.  Also looking for those interested in teaching an initial basic or paramedic program. Contact Ralph Elam at RalphEMS@aol.com

At the Spring General Membership meeting, a number of motions were made that require actions from the Board of Directors.  The SMEMSIC Board is currently working on the actions that will be required from these motions.  The motions are listed below for your review in case you were unable to attend the meeting.

Motion 1:
The Society request and aid the state in the development of a process to provide “certification of competency” of specified skills as an alternative to the required practical credits.
Motion 2:
That any action by the SMEMSIC Board on recommendation to MDCH (regarding any change in how practical credits can be earned) be brought to the General Membership for approval.
Motion 3:
Ask the State EMS Office to define the process for applying for practical continuing education credit and provide written notification with a deadline for implementation.

We are working on motion 2 and 3 through a meeting with MDCH later this morning.  Discussion of motion one will be ongoing as we work with MDCH throughout this year.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

If you attended the Spring conference you heard during the MDCH EMS report that the State is going to make some changes regarding the requirements for application of continuing education practical credits.  If you did not attend, you may still have heard about these changes as word does spread fast in the EMS education world.  The changes will impact the way you apply for practical continuing education credits by requiring additional information such as the student instructor ratio and other information.

Since the conference, the SMEMSIC Board of Directors has been in contact with MDCH representatives and expressed member concerns that were expressed at the general membership meeting at the conference.  As a result of these discussions, MDCH has agreed to put any changes in the Practical CE approval requirements "on hold".  So for the time being, the information presented at the MDCH EMS report will not be implemented and  Practical CEs will be awarded as they have in the past until the new Practical CE approval process has been reviewed.

The SMEMSIC Executive Committee, and other board members who are able to attend, will have a meeting with MDCH representatives to discuss the issues and concerns raised at the general membership meeting.  The MDCH representatives were very responsive to our concerns and suggested a meeting to review the issues relating to these proposed changes in the practical approval requirements.  As of this writing, a tentative date of March 27 has been set for the meeting with the SMEMSIC executive board and MDCH in Lansing.  We will let you know the outcome and advise you if the date changes.

Hello All - Not sure how many of you are aware of the action that took place December 2006, but the Ryan White Act (RWA) was reauthorized during a legislative session in Washington with one huge detail omitted - emergency responders (ER) were removed as an entity covered by this act. It was only discovered this past spring that this had occurred, and appeared in the March JEMS (see the link below).

There is a little activity taking place around the US to try beating the deadline of October 1, 2009 to have ER's reinstated in this Act, but this may be problematic unless we make enough noise in Lansing to get our Senate to help in this matter. I have not seen anything come out of Michigan on this issue, and we need to act now if we are going to have any chance reinstating ER's back into the RWA.

If you are interested in helping by sending your senator a letter requesting support on this issue, please click on the e-mail link below, and I'll be happy to send you a template I've put together, as well as other information for your use and information.

E-Mail
JEMS Ryan White

http://www.jems.com/Images/Verathon_tcm16-155825.pdf

Journal of Emerengency Medicine - GlideScope Ranger Article

http://www.verathon.com/emergency_medicine.htm

Company Website

http://www.verathon.com/PDFs/0900-2134-00-86.pdf

Product Info

The Society of Michigan EMS Instructor Coordinators has opened a members news blog with members can post articles of interest to other SMEMSIC members.  This Blog is not intended to take the place of the public news blog but this one will allow our members to post as well as read the articles.  Please feel free to submit information from our different areas as we test this new News Blog.  It is our hope that members will use this new service along with the discussion forums and other areas of the new members area to keep informed about SMEMSIC and State EMS issues that impact EMS education in Michigan.  Please let us know your thoughts as we are always looking for ideas to improve this site and bring more services to you.