With the signing of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 on March 11th, CMS will now be allowed to reimburse ambulance services for treating patients in place during the public health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The measure comes in response to the widespread need for treatment-in-place caused by the pandemic. As hospitals reached capacity and it became clear that not every patient needed transport to the emergency room, many EMS agencies were directed to render services to patients in their homes, avoiding transport where possible. Traditionally, EMS has only been reimbursed for transporting patients to the hospital. 

Rob Lawrence, director of strategic implementation of PRO EMS and executive director of the California Ambulance Association, described the impact of the measure: "Specifically, this waiver would allow CMS to pay for ground ambulance services furnished in response to a 911 call (or equivalent in areas without 911) in cases where a patient was not transported but was instead treated in place in accordance with community-wide EMS protocols."

A Canadian study published prior to the COVID-19 pandemic indicates that community paramedicine programs are improving care and outcomes for patients. 

According to researchers Michael J. Nolan, Katherine E. Nolan, and Samir K. Sinha, there is a growing need for a more flexible, sustainable model of care to deliver high-quality healthcare within communities—and in Canada, community paramedics are being recognized as uniquely positioned to deliver exactly that. 

April 1st, 2021 — The Pulsara team has done it again.

In an effort to extend their communication services to every sphere of healthcare, Pulsara has now expanded its functionality to include veterinary offices throughout the U.S. The new package, Pulsara VET, includes the ability for vets to consult with one another for a second opinion, a dedicated channel for Fire when rescuing cats stuck in trees, and even provider-to-pet communication. 

When asked for comment, Pulsara CMO Kris Kaull said, “As a pet-friendly office, we realized there’s so much we can do for our four-legged furry friends.”

On February 19th, 2021, the European Stroke Organisation (ESO) published a new guideline on Intravenous Thrombolysis for acute ischaemic stroke. 

The new guideline comes from a study aimed at providing evidence-based recommendations to help physicians make clinical decisions regarding intravenous thrombolysis for acute ischaemic stroke. Published in the European Stroke Journal, the new guideline is the first in a series of around 10 that are expected to be published in 2021. 

The new guideline makes forty specific recommendations for stroke treatment. The authors of the study outlined the 8 they consider the most important, which are quoted as follows: 

With each new phase of the pandemic comes a new set of challenges, and each new need is significant. From COVID testing and new treatment protocols to contact tracing and mass vaccinations, we must concurrently address all these challenges before the nation can begin returning to a renewed sense of normalcy. Modernizing and mobilizing the tools our nation’s first responders – and those who support them – use is now imperative, as we combat the spread of COVID-19.

On Thursday, April 8, from 11:30 am - 12:30 pm MDT, join Pulsara's Vice President of National Accounts, Corey Ricketson, for the session "FirstNet: Tracing and Collaborative Care Coordination." In this session, Corey will discuss how Pulsara's healthcare communications platform is being used by emergency medical personnel to unite distributed teams, enable scalable networked communication, and coordinate patient movement across the continuum of patient care.

Click Here to Register for Free

When COVID-19 spread globally last March, New Zealand reacted quickly. In fact, their shut down was so effective that they were able to have a much shorter period of quarantine than most other countries. They quickly mobilized technology to help pivot and shift toward virtual appointments, utilizing telehealth to help manage patients’ needs.

Though brief, this period still has New Zealand experts looking to the future of health—a future which might just lie in the more strategic use of infrastructure and technology.

Pagers have been a staple in healthcare communication since the 1980s. Small, loud, and easily passed from clinician to clinician, pagers have been the constant companions of doctors and nurses for a long time. And in that time, they've been vital tools for communication. 

They have their drawbacks, but there are a few important reasons why pagers have stuck around for so long. One particular feature in the pager's design has ensured their longstanding usefulness for physicians: The loud, obnoxious alerts.

Why is that important? Pagers interrupt workflow. In a good way.

After a few years of planning and site scouting, Scotland has approved Wester Moffat as the future home of Scotland’s very first digital hospital. 

The new Monklands hospital is projected to open in 2028, and will feature state-of-the-art digital technology. According to Healthcare Global, the design is partly inspired by Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.

This is part 5 of our blog series on the Top 5 Challenges in Rural Healthcare. Check out the other posts in this series here.

Rural healthcare has many strengths. With more continuity of care and personal relationships built between doctors and patients, rural clinicians have unique insight into the lives of their patients, helping them make the best possible treatment decisions for their patients. 

Recently, prominent rural healthcare authorities in Georgia and Colorado Springs sat down for exclusive interviews with Pulsara to weigh in on some of the challenges that rural clinicians are currently facing, the strengths of rural healthcare, and some of the innovative solutions they believe can help.

This is part 4 of our blog series on the Top 5 Challenges in Rural Healthcare. Check out the other posts in this series here.

Rural clinicians are some of the most hardworking, dedicated, and caring people you will ever meet. But even the greatest heroes still need support, collaboration, and mentorship. From lack of funding and regulations to patients struggling to access care, rural healthcare providers face a whole host of unique challenges. And unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has only made many of these challenges even more pressing. As of January 2021, more than 800 rural hospitals are at a high or immediate risk of closure.

With all the other challenges piled on top, rural clinicians may feel more isolated. While the opportunity for a more personal and continuous relationship with patients is greatly rewarding, rural health also often has fewer resources and few colleagues to turn to for a second opinion. Practicing in a rural area can be made more difficult by the lack of a solid support system. 

Last month, Ambulance Tasmania was rocked by the news that a major data breach exposed over two months of records of patients’ sensitive data.

On January 8th, the personal details of every patient who called an ambulance between November 2020 and mid-January 2021 were discovered online. The website’s administrator posted live updates every time paramedics were dispatched, until the webpage was shut down in mid-January. Sensitive health information exposed on the website included patients’ personal details, gender, age, condition, HIV status, and even the address of the incident. Tasmanian officials expressed concern, outrage, and vows to get to the bottom of the matter.

Where did the breach come from?

Pagers.

This past year has been a rough one for many, but perhaps none more so than the courageous physicians, nurses, EMS providers, and healthcare workers who have put their own safety on the line in order to help take care of COVID-19 patients.

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, hearts are everywhere—heart decorations, heart candies, heart cards, even heart pancakes for the more creative sweethearts. But one of the most important hearts of all too often gets overlooked: Your heart (or your heart health, to be specific)! 

February is American Heart Month: a national event to raise awareness about heart disease and what you can do to decrease your risks. Heart disease is the #1 cause of death for Americans, killing over 650,000 people annually. It is responsible for 1 in 4 deaths in the U.S. each year, and one person dies every 36 seconds from cardiovascular disease (that's heart disease and stroke combined). And that's not just for older adults; heart disease is becoming more and more common in young adults, making it important to learn whether you might be at risk.

During time-sensitive emergencies, sharing data between EMS and the hospital is a vital part of patient care. EMS contacts the hospital via radio report to share information about the patient’s condition and vital signs, letting hospital staff know what to expect when the patient arrives on their doorstep. EMS and the hospital both comply with HIPAA guidelines, and sharing details about the patient’s condition is simply considered an essential part of providing the best possible care for that patient.

But once the patient has been admitted and EMS needs outcome data from the hospital, suddenly the information sharing process isn’t quite as clear. Many hospitals get nervous about the thought of sharing patient data or PHI with EMS agencies.

Why?

HIPAA.

This is part 3 of our blog series on the Top 5 Challenges in Rural Healthcare. Check out the other posts in this series here.

For rural healthcare providers, delivering high quality care means facing unique challenges that don’t come up in most urban settings. Many of these issues have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well. Access to care, distance, connectivity, and financial hardship are only a few of the hurdles rural health has had to grapple with. 

In the United States, rural healthcare serves one-quarter of the nation’s population. Over the last few decades, special rules and regulations were created with the aim to help rural residents get better access to care. However, some of these regulations have become counterproductive, doing more harm than good for rural patient care. 

This is part 2 of our blog series on the Top 5 Challenges in Rural Healthcare. Check out the other posts in this series here.

From access issues to finding funding, rural healthcare faces a variety of unique challenges. As COVID-19 swept the nation, many of these challenges have only intensified. Chief among these challenges is covering the high costs associated with continuing operations.  

Recently, prominent rural healthcare authorities in Georgia and Colorado Springs sat down for exclusive interviews with Pulsara to weigh in on these challenges, as well as some of the innovative solutions they believe can help. 

In this 5-part blog series, we will explore each of the top 5 challenges that rural healthcare currently faces, and how new technology could be key to solving some of them. Today, we'll discuss the second major challenge: Funding. 

This week, Ontario officials announced a second, more stringent stay-at-home order in an attempt to help mitigate the recent surge of COVID-19 cases in the province.

"According to officials, there is a real threat that the province’s hospital system could collapse under the pressure."

Country backroads. Limited cell service. A population that is spread across great distances and often doesn’t have effective health insurance. For rural healthcare providers, delivering high quality care means facing unique challenges that don’t come up in most urban settings. 

To celebrate the 200th birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, the World Health Organization (WHO) proclaimed 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and Midwife. 

And what a year it's been. This year, the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe. Nurses everywhere have spent 2020 working through exhaustion, the daily risk of being exposed to the virus, and the stress of risking their family's safety as well as their own. According to a new study conducted in the UK, nurses are experiencing high levels of burnout and depression, and 28% of NHS nurses are quitting within three years—a 50% increase since 2013.

Every year, The Joint Commission consults with industry experts and stakeholders to gather information about emergent issues in patient safety and care. From their findings, they release an annual report of their National Patient Safety Goals, tailored specifically for programs like Ambulatory Care, Hospitals, and Nursing Care Centers. According to the Joint Commission, these goals inform their "sentinel event alerts, standards and survey processes, performance measures, educational materials, and Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare projects."