Hi there,
A mountain ambulance district in Colorado just won up to $12.5 million in Rural Health Transformation money, and one of its community paramedics is about to pick up a statewide award. In Maine, one of the first states to pilot community paramedicine, programs still get about $95 from MaineCare when a call ends without an ER trip. This week is about that gap, and what Oklahoma is doing to close it.
Table of Contents:
Colorado's Community Paramedic of the Year, and the $12.5M grant behind her team
Why a Knoxville patient refused the hospital, and Oklahoma's hunt for a payment model
Funding Watch: an Iowa decision still pending, and the NC EMS Expo call for proposals due November 30
State Deep Dive: Maine has 19 programs and a $95 problem
Read Time: 4 minutes
Program Spotlight
Lt. Kelsey Carter spent 12 years as a firefighter-paramedic before joining the Ute Pass Regional Ambulance District (UPRAD) in Teller County, where she works mobile crisis response and treatment in place. When it's safe she treats patients at home and skips the ambulance ride, and when it isn't, she gets them to a facility that can help. "I enjoy meeting people where they're at," she told the Pikes Peak Courier. She receives Colorado's Community Paramedic of the Year award at the state EMS conference in Keystone on November 7.
Her district just won up to $12.5 million in federal Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) money, paid at $2.5 million a year for five years if it meets the grant's conditions, the Courier reported November 2. It funds two more community paramedics, two paramedics, two EMTs and live video telehealth from the ambulance to the receiving UCHealth physician. The full story covers which patients the new community paramedics will focus on and who they'll work alongside.
Who to Contact:
Ute Pass Regional Ambulance District (James McLaughlin, Director of Community Paramedics): 719-687-2291 (UPRAD main line)
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Program Roundup
Who Shows Up, and Who Pays for It
On outreach rounds, Wesley Brookshear met a patient experiencing homelessness with a wound so bad they couldn't sit, who turned down a hospital ride: "They don't take care of our people." His JEMS piece covers what AMR's Knoxville outreach program did with that answer.
The state's RHTP office already offered up to 20 grants of $350,000 for community paramedicine vehicles. Now it's seeking a contractor to write a statewide deployment strategy that includes a sustainable payment model, with responses due November 18.
Resources
Funding Watch
Still waiting in Iowa: MEDIC EMS applied for up to $720,000 in Iowa HHS Rural Health Transformation money to send paramedics and EMTs into rural homes across parts of five counties. A decision was expected in October, and none had been announced as of November 2.
Between rounds? Most RHTP money reaches EMS agencies through state-run rounds, and several states ran their community paramedicine rounds between May and September. If yours hasn't opened one, ask your state Office of Rural Health or EMS office when year-two funding will be announced.
On the Calendar
Texas EMS Conference, Fort Worth, November 22 to 25.
NC EMS Expo 2027, April 23 to 28, 2027. Presentation proposals are due November 30.
NRHA Rural Health Policy Institute, Washington, D.C., February 9 to 11, 2027.
Now Hiring
MIH Manager, City of Rockford, IL. $103,956. Closes November 20.
Community EMT / Community Paramedic, Bloomington Fire Department, IN. $58,856 to $67,684. Closes November 22.
Community Health Paramedic (CMED), Colorado Springs Fire Department. $59,370 to $71,273. Closes November 12.
Advanced Practice Paramedic, MIH, Onslow County Emergency Services, Jacksonville, NC. $59,051 to $76,752.
State Deep Dive: Community Paramedicine in Maine Runs on Grants and a $95 Payment
Maine started a community paramedicine pilot in 2012, and 19 municipal EMS agencies now run programs, WGME reported November 2. More than 82,000 Mainers live in ambulance deserts, according to a 2023 Rural Health and Policy Center report, and Dr. Jonnathan Busko of St. Joseph Healthcare is pitching community paramedicine as part of the fix.
The money is the weak spot. Programs lean on local fundraising and partial Maine EMS grants, and services told lawmakers in February that MaineCare pays about $95 for a call that doesn't end in an ER trip. A bill to make MaineCare build a payment schedule failed last session, and Busko expects it back. The state's RHTP community paramedicine round, about $4.96 million at up to $500,000 per agency, closed in August with priority for Washington, Aroostook and Lincoln counties.