Emergency medical services aren't considered 'essential' in some states; 4.5 million people live in 'ambulance deserts'

Many states have yet to declare EMS as an 'essential service.'

(Photo by Ian Taylor, Unsplash)

If you're having an emergency, you can call 911, but that doesn't mean there's an ambulance or paramedics nearby to come to your aid. "Most states don't declare emergency medical services to be an 'essential service,' meaning the state government isn't required to provide or fund them," reports Nada Hassanein of Stateline. "Now, though, a growing number of states are taking an interest in recognizing ambulance services as essential. . . .Experts say the momentum might be driven by the pandemic, a decline in volunteerism and the rural health care shortage."

Smaller towns and out-of-the-way places face the most complex struggles. "The lack of EMS services is acute in rural America, where EMS agencies and rural hospitals continue to shutter at record rates, meaning longer distances to life-saving care," Hassanein writes. Longtime paramedic Brenden Hayden, chairperson of the National EMS Advisory Council, a governmental advisory group within the U.S. Department of Transportation, told Hassanein: "The fact that people expect it, but yet it's not listed as an essential service in many states, and it's not supported as such really, is where that dissonance occurs."

EMS services struggle partially because "there isn’t a sole federal agency dedicated to overseeing or funding EMS, with multiple agencies handling different regulations, and some federal dollars in the form of grants and highway safety funds from the Department of Transportation," Hassanein explains. "By contrast, police departments are supported and receive funds from the U.S. Department of Justice along with local tax dollars, and fire departments are supported by the U.S. Fire Administration, although many underserved areas also rely on volunteer firefighters to fill gaps."

"About 4.5 million people across the United States live in an 'ambulance desert,' and more than half of those are residents of rural counties, according to a recent national study by the Maine Rural Health Research Center and the Rural Health Research & Policy Centers," Hassanein adds. "The researchers define an ambulance desert as a community 25 minutes or more from an ambulance station."