Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress finds the following: Paramedics and emergency medical technicians (in this section referred to as EMTs ) provide care to ill or injured people in emergency medical settings and are a vital component of the Nation’s Emergency Medical Services (in this section referred to as EMS ) system. EMTs provide basic emergency medical care and transportation for patients while paramedics provide advanced emergency medical care such as intubation, oral and intravenous drug administration, and other procedures.
The United States EMS system is facing a crippling workforce shortage, a long-term problem that has been building for more than a decade. In 2019, the Health Resources and Services Administration reported that by 2030, there would be a need for an additional 42,000 EMTs and Paramedics to meet the nation’s demand for healthcare services. The COVID–19 pandemic has further exacerbated this workforce shortage, with ambulance crews suffering the effects of surging demand, burnout, fear of illness and stress on their families.
A 2021 survey of nearly 20,000 employees working at 258 EMS organizations found that overall turnover among paramedics and EMTs ranges from 20 to 30 percent annually. With COVID–19 halting clinical and in-person trainings for a significant period of time, the pipeline of new EMS staff has been stretched even thinner.