A paramedic has come to your door. It could be good news.

Paramedic Jason Frye takes Sandra Lane's blood pressure at her
home in Gillette, Wyo. (Photo by Arielle Zionts, KFF Health News)

When could a paramedic at your door be good news? When it's one coming to check up on you or a loved one, not responding to an emergency. Paramedics do that in "community paramedicine," as explained by Arielle Zionts of KFF Health News, a service of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

"Community paramedicine allows paramedics to use their skills outside of emergency settings," Zionts reports. "The goal is to help patients access care, maintain or improve their health, and reduce their dependence on costly ambulance rides and ER visits. Such programs are expanding across the country, including in rural areas, as health care providers, insurers, and state governments recognize the potential benefits to patients, ambulance services, and hospitals." A 2017 survey found 129 such programs, 55% of which operated in rural areas.

The programs are helpful in areas that have less access to health care, said Gary Wingrove, chair of the International Roundtable on Community Paramedicine and Gary Wingrove, a Florida-based leader in the field. “If we can get a community paramedic to their house,” he told Zionts, “then we can keep them connected to primary health care and all of the other services that they need.”

Most of the programs "rely on paramedics, but some also use emergency medicine technicians, nurses, social workers, and other professionals, according to the 2017 survey," Zionts writes. "Programs can offer home visits, phone check-ins, or transportation to nonemergency destinations, such as urgent care clinics and mental health centers. . . . Paramedics can provide in-home vaccinations, wound care, ultrasounds, and blood tests. They can offer exercise and nutrition tips, teach patients how to monitor their symptoms, and help with housing, economic, and social needs that can affect people’s health. For example, paramedics might inspect homes for safety hazards, provide a list of food banks, or connect lonely patients with a senior center."