Advanced Care Technician (ACT) Task Force Established
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Posted: Wednesday, June 13, 2018 7:05 AM
ANNOUNCEMENT
June 12, 2018
West Virginia Bureau for Public Health Commissioner and State Health Officer - Rahul Gupta, MD, MPH, MBA, FACP and the Office of Emergency Medical Services (OEMS) Medical Director - Michael Mills, DO, FACEP announce:
An Advanced Care Technician (ACT) Task Force has been established to receive consensus recommendations from the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) community with regard to the future disposition of the ACT certification. This Task Force will meet on an expedited schedule to provide recommendations to the Bureau for Public Health (BPH) Commissioner and the West Virginia Office of Emergency Medical Services (OEMS) by early Fall 2018.
To address the immediate concerns expressed by EMS providers regarding the need for additional ACT courses to support advanced life support services in rural communities, OEMS is authorizing additional training to meet this short-term demand. These courses will bridge the time frame during which the Task Force will work through solutions. Currently, OEMS is working directly with the Charleston Fire Department to organize ACT certification classes. Times and locations of these classes will be released later this week in a follow-up communication.
The BPH Commissioner has created the Task Force to address the decision of the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) to no longer recertify individuals as a National Registry Emergency Medical Technician-Intermediate, effective 2019. This decision affects the OEMS ACT level of certification.
Under the current Legislative Rule, in the event that the NREMT ceases to recertify individuals with a NREMT-Intermediate/99 certification, the BPH Commissioner will either:
- Terminate the ACT certification, provided, that persons who are certified as an ACT at the time of the termination of the ACT certification may continue to provide services pursuant to their certification until the expiration of their certification; or
- Establish state certification standards to replace the National EMS Certification.
An initial meeting of the Task Force will be held at the Flatwoods Medical Coordination Center, 89 Richard D. Minnich Drive, Sutton, West Virginia 26601 on June 29, 2018 at 9:00AM to address ACT certification. The Task Force meeting will be open to the public and publicly noticed with the West Virginia Secretary of State's office.
Members of the Task Force include:
- Joe Lynch, KCEAA
- Roger Bryant, Logan (LEASA)
- Phil Shimer
- Todd Cornett, JanCare
- David Hodges, CFD
- Jamie Weller, EMSAC Chair
- Adam Crawford, ACEP
- Mike Peterson, ACEP and HealthNet
- PS Martin, ACEP and WVU MedCom
- Jonathan Newman, Regional Medical Director and MPCC
- Chris Hall, EMS Coalition
- Rex Lasure, Regional Medical Director and MPCC
- Steve Thompson, Fire/EMS Legislative Liaison
The first meeting will focus on continuing ACT educational classes for entering students and subsequent bridging to the Paramedic certification. Future meetings will explore ALS services in West Virginia, cost estimates for continuance of the ACT program, and Medicaid/Medicare reimbursement for this midlevel EMS program.
Consensus recommendations of the Task Force will be provided to the BPH Commissioner and OEMS Medical Director for consideration.