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Emergency Medical Service-based Care Coordination for Three Rural Communities
- Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 27, Number 4, November 2016 Supplement
- pp. 159-180
- 10.1353/hpu.2016.0178
- Article
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Providers in rural areas face challenges to increasing health care access, reducing costs, and improving health care quality and outcomes. One promising model is expanding paramedic roles to include non- emergency home visits to patients. Employing a comparative case study, this paper describes three Emergency Medical Services (EMS)- based care coordination programs that provide services to rural, underserved patients, who frequently use EMS/emergency departments. Across the three sites, four major themes emerged: (1) a shift in the paramedic and patient interactions from episodic, crisis- based to longer- term, ongoing relationships; (2) characteristics of rural context that both enabled and constrained paramedic care coordination programs; (3) impacts of care coordination including improvements in preventive care and disease self- management as well as peace of mind; and (4) concerns about programs’ sustainability. Emergency Medical Service- based care coordination appears to be a promising model for addressing the health and social needs of rural residents who frequently use EMS.