By Laura French
FALLS CHURCH, Va. — The National Association of State Emergency Medical Services Officials (NASEMSO) has released the 2020 National EMS Assessment, updating the 2011 assessment. The 2020 assessment provides a comprehensive accounting by state/territory of the numbers and types of all 911 ambulance services and EMS professionals.
Data collection for the assessment was completed in 2019 by NASEMSO members, who are the staff of the state agencies that license EMS personnel and agencies across the United States. The assessment provides the following key findings:
- More than 18,200 local EMS agencies respond to 911 calls for medical emergencies and injuries, utilizing nearly 73,500 ground vehicles such as ambulances and fire engines.
- Local EMS agencies respond to nearly 28.5 million 911 dispatches every year in 41 states.
- More than 750 services are licensed by state EMS offices to fly patients, using helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft to provide rapid transportation to critical care.
- More than 1.03 million personnel are licensed as EMTs, paramedics and in other levels of EMS patient care capability within all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and American Samoa.
- More than 9,300 physicians serve as local EMS medical directors, assuring that contemporary and quality care is provided to patients.
- Sixty percent of 53 state EMS offices participated or expect to participate in mass casualty exercises involving a biological threat during the 18-month evaluation period.
Read the full report below: