The following requests will be discussed with congressional leaders and staff during EMS On The Hill Day:

• Support FY2023 Funding for the Supporting and Improving Rural EMS Needs (SIREN) Law. The SIREN Act passed both Houses of Congress as part of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 and was signed into law on December 20, 2018.  This law creates a grant program for public and non-profit EMS agencies and fire departments in rural areas to support the recruitment, retention, education, and equipment for EMS personnel. Rural EMS agencies and fire departments often lack the resources to pay for even basic operational needs.  The pandemic has exacerbated these challenges, creating a crisis for EMS in many rural areas. Please ask your lawmakers in the Senate and House to share their support with the Senate and House Appropriations Committees to reauthorize and fund the Siren Act at $20 million for FY2023 to provide much needed grants and resources to already strained EMS agencies working to provide life-saving medical care to the patients in their communities.
  
  Please support H.R. 2454/S. 2037, Protecting Access to Ground Ambulance Medical Services Act of 2021. This legislation seeks to address two major problems related to Medicare reimbursement for ground ambulance services to ensure that when Americans call 9-1-1 or otherwise require the healthcare services provided by an ambulance that there will be one available.  Without the extension of the ground ambulance add-ons and a technical fix to the policies determining rural and super-rural areas, many ambulance organizations will not be able to continue serving their communities.
    
• Join the Congressional EMS Caucus (letter for House Representatives and Senators).
  
  
• Please support S. 2971/H.R. 2354, the EMS Counts Act of 2021 introduced by Senator Robert Casey (D-PA), Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), Representative Susan Wild (D-PA and Representative Fred Keller (R-PA). These bills would require the Secretary of Labor to revise the Standard Occupational Classification System by dividing the general occupational category of Firefighter into four sub-categories. Specifically, the bill directs the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to revise the broad description under the occupational series ‘‘33-2011 16 Firefighters’’ of the 2018 Standard Occupational Classification System of the BLS to include the following new occupations: (1) Firefighters. (2) Firefighter/EMTs. (3) Firefighter/Paramedics. (4) Firefighters, All Other. These changes will address the chronic miscounting of EMS personnel by allowing firefighters to identify themselves as cross-trained EMS practitioners.
  
  

• Please support legislative initiatives that help communities address the crisis-level shortages of EMS personnel by expanding existing grant programs targeted to EMS; including EMS in existing workforce apprenticeship programs; and ensuring that EMS is eligible for and has access to federal grant programs to address the healthcare workforce shortage.

• 2022 Hill Day Talking Points
• 2022 Hill Day Briefing Program
• Briefings and Meetings by State