On December 5th, the California Emergency Services Authority (EMSA) recognized the outstanding contributions of three EMSAAC members. At the annual ceremony held in San Francisco, Bryan Cleaver (Coastal Valleys EMS) was honored as EMS Administrator of the Year. Mike Petrie (Monterey County EMS) received the Authority's Distinguished Service Award, and Steve Carroll (Ventura County EMS) was recognized with a Meritorious Service Award. Congratulations to each of our fine colleagues!
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On February 1st, Alameda County Superior Court refused to grant a request by the California Fire Chiefs' Association (CFCA) for an injunction against Alameda County EMS Agency and the California EMS Authority. The order would have removed language from the Alameda County EMS Agency’s RFP for 911 emergency ambulance service that prohibits the "Alliance" or "At Risk Subcontracting" Model. The case is scheduled for a full hearing later in February or in early March.
In 2012, Regional EMS Authority (based in Reno, NV) launched a system of community health programs to improve access to the appropriate level of healthcare throughout Washoe County, Nevada. Funded through a $9.1 million Health Care Innovation Award from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the program consisted of three interventions:
Ambulances are a vital part of emergency medical services. However, they come in single, homogeneous, high intervention form, which is at times unnecessary, resulting in excessive costs for patients and insurers. In this recent paper, the authors ask whether Uber’s entry into a city caused substitution away from traditional ambulances for low risk patients, reducing overall volume. They found that the availability of Uber reduced ambulance volume by at least 7%.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has produced a YouTube video on EMS Data. The video describes the importance of documentation and the use of EMS data. It is primarily intended for field providers. To view this video, click on this link: 
Christina Mattina with the American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC) reports on a new study, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, indicating that expanded coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) added strain on emergency medical services, resulting in slower ambulance response times. Mattina states that “Using data from the federal Fatality Analysis Reporting System from 2010 to 2015, researchers found that full implementation of the ACA (with Medicaid expansion) was associated with a 1 minute, 53 second increase in ambulance response times, which is nearly 19% higher relative to the mean. For each percentage-point increase in insurance coverage in a given county, ambulance response times were slowed by 22.8 seconds.” 
This whitepaper sponsored by Operative IQ describes the importance of instituting a system-wide strategy for tracking the usage and disposal of controlled substances, and how modern technology is making the process more efficient and accurate.
On August 14th, the EMS Administrators' Association of California (EMSAAC) issued a Position Statement on “Grandfathering” and Exclusivity Under Sections 201 And 224 of the EMS Act. The position statement was written with the assistance of Derek Cole, Esq. with Cota Cole LLP, who represented San Joaquin County in their successful litigation with the City of Stockton regarding the rights, responsibilities, and relationships of local EMS agencies and cities. EMSAAC has issued this position statement to clarify language within the EMS Act, to accurately summarize the findings of more than twenty years of case law, and to correct novel interpretations of the EMS Act that some are advancing within California. The California Fire Chiefs' Association (CFCA) has also responded to this position statement with its own rebuttal. These documents can be downloaded below:
The National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) recently released a report, 
The Government Accounting Office (GAO) has published a report on Pediatric Trauma Centers that summarizes pediatric trauma care in the U.S. Click on the link below for a copy of this report:
AmeriCare Ambulance's combined complaint against twelve cities in Orange County (CA) and Care Ambulance for alleged anti-trust behavior has been dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The cities had either provided or contracted for emergency ambulance services prior to June 30, 1980. In its dismissal action on March 28th, the Court ruled these cities are entitled to anti-trust protection under California's Health & Safety Code, Division 2.5, Section 1797.201. An appeal by AmeriCare to the 9th Circuit District Court of Appeals is expected. The lower Court's ruling is found below:
On August 9th EMS Administrators and staff met in Rancho Cordova for a one-day workshop on EMT discipline and local EMS agency oversight for EMS aircraft. The goal of the workshop was to discuss standardizing procedures and policies used by local EMS agencies for these two areas. The focus for the EMT discipline discussion was how to handle the most common scenario that can result in taking action on a certification: an EMT with a first time drug/alcohol related arrest/conviction. LEMSA Administrators agreed to uniformly follow guidelines for