April 9, 2020 (Falls Church, Va.) In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and applause for first responders in the United States, the National Association of State Emergency Medical Services Officials (NASEMSO) has released the 2020 National EMS Assessment updating the 2011 assessment. The 2020 assessment provides a comprehensive accounting by state/territory of the numbers and types of all 911 ambulance services and emergency medical services (EMS) professionals.

The 2020 National EMS Assessment is the first set of documentation about these critical emergency medical response personnel and agencies to be published in nearly 20 years. Every year in times of disasters, disease outbreaks and daily medical emergencies, such as heart attacks and car crashes, out-of-hospital emergency medical care systems make life-and-death differences in the lives of millions of Americans. EMS systems are the safety net for hospital emergency departments and public health as the front lines of response to 911 calls. Additionally, responders place themselves in high risk situations on a daily basis, as well as during communicable disease outbreaks and pandemics.

Data collection for this assessment was completed in 2019 by NASEMSO members, who are the staff of the state agencies that license America’s critical EMS personnel and agencies. State EMS offices protect the public by regulating the human and organizational components of EMS systems across the United States, as well as executing their legislative mandates to implement and improve systems of care for time-sensitive emergencies in order to offer every patient an opportunity for survival and optimal outcomes. The assessment provides the following key findings:

• More than 18,200 local EMS agencies respond to 911 calls for medical emergencies and injuries, utilizing nearly 73,500 ground vehicles such as ambulances and fire engines.
• Local EMS agencies respond to nearly 28.5 million 911 dispatches every year in 41 states.
• More than 750 services are licensed by state EMS offices to fly patients, using helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft to provide rapid transportation to critical care.
• More than 1.03 million personnel are licensed as emergency medical technicians, paramedics, and other levels of EMS patient care capability within all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and American Samoa.
• More than 9,300 physicians serve as local EMS Medical Directors, assuring that contemporary and quality care is provided to patients.
• Sixty percent of 53 state EMS offices participated or expect to participate in mass casualty exercises involving a biological threat during the 18-month evaluation period.

The report is available from NASEMSO at www.nasemso.org/2020-assessment.