Mount Sinai and UC San Diego Health Announce Framework to Promote Innovation in Emergency Medical Services

CLICK HERE to download the full report

(New York – February 19, 2019)  As part of nationwide efforts to improve emergency medical care, researchers at the Mount Sinai Health System, in collaboration with UC San Diego Health, have released a national framework report titled “Promoting Innovations in Emergency Medical Services” that identifies regulatory, financial, and technological obstacles to improving local and state EMS systems. The report also provides recommendations to create a more dynamic system that is more responsive to society’s needs.

As EMS agencies strive to innovate within the current infrastructure, they face challenges from existing laws, regulations, and industry perceptions. Researchers identified seven major themes of these challenges—regulation, finance, education, regional EMS coordination, interdisciplinary collaboration, medical direction, and data/telecommunications—and made more than 250 recommendations for stakeholders to overcome barriers to EMS innovation.

“The potential for innovation in EMS is enormous, but we need to find ways to unleash that potential, so that emergency medical services can be transformed to better meet the needs of patients and communities,” said project co-director Kevin Munjal, MD, MPH, MSCR, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

“Tomorrow’s innovations will improve domestic preparedness, increase patient access to care, decrease health care costs, and improve community resilience,” said project co-director James Dunford, MD, Professor Emeritus at UC San Diego School of Medicine and EMS Medical Director for the City of San Diego.

The project’s leadership was composed of a diverse group of stakeholders, including representation from state and local government, EMS agencies, health systems, health care professions, and experts in paramedicine, economics, public health, and political science.  The process included a national survey, stakeholder interviews, regional conferences, national meetings, and public comment.

The research was supported by grants from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Health Affairs, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

About the Mount Sinai Health System
The Mount Sinai Health System is New York City's largest integrated delivery system, encompassing eight hospitals, a leading medical school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. Mount Sinai's vision is to produce the safest care, the highest quality, the highest satisfaction, the best access and the best value of any health system in the nation. The Health System includes approximately 7,480 primary and specialty care physicians; 11 joint-venture ambulatory surgery centers; more than 410 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and 31 affiliated community health centers. The Icahn School of Medicine is one of three medical schools that have earned distinction by multiple indicators: ranked in the top 20 by U.S. News & World Report's "Best Medical Schools", aligned with a U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" Hospital, No. 12 in the nation for National Institutes of Health funding, and among the top 10 most innovative research institutions as ranked by the journal Nature in its Nature Innovation Index. This reflects a special level of excellence in education, clinical practice, and research. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 18 on U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" of top U.S. hospitals; it is one of the nation's top 20 hospitals in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Geriatrics, Nephrology, and Neurology/Neurosurgery, and in the top 50 in six other specialties in the 2018-2019 "Best Hospitals" issue. Mount Sinai's Kravis Children's Hospital also is ranked nationally in five out of ten pediatric specialties by U.S. News & World Report. The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked 11th nationally for Ophthalmology and 44th for Ear, Nose, and Throat. Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai St. Luke's, Mount Sinai West, and South Nassau Communities Hospital are ranked regionally.

About UC San Diego Health
UC San Diego Health, the region’s only academic health system, is dedicated to delivering outstanding patient care through commitment to community, groundbreaking research and inspired teaching. For 2018-19, U.S. News and World Report ranked UC San Diego Health among the nation’s best in six adult medical and surgical specialties, including pulmonology, geriatrics, cardiology, cancer, neurology and orthopedics. The 808-bed academic health system includes UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest and Jacobs Medical Center, Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center, Moores Cancer Center, Shiley Eye Institute, Koman Family Outpatient Pavilion and Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute, all in La Jolla, as well as primary care and same-day services at clinics throughout Southern California. For more information, visit health.ucsd.edu

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Contact:
Matt Kozar, Mount Sinai Press Office, 646-605‐5995, matt.kozar@mountsinai.org
Michelle Brubaker, UC San Diego Health, 858-210-0456, mmbrubaker@ucsd.edu