Emergency Medical and Integrated Healthcare Services

Emergency Medical and Integrated Healthcare Services (EMIHS) is part of the MCFRS Division of Operations. Working closely with the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems (MIEMSS), our local fire and rescue corporations, career and volunteer labor representatives, the Fire and Emergency Services Commission (FESC), the Montgomery County Department Health and Human Services (HHS), the County Medical Society, and other stakeholder agencies within county government, EMIHS is responsible for:

• overseeing the delivery of Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Life Support (ALS) treatment and transportation services
• administering in-county Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH) initiatives
• developing MCFRS policies applicable to EMS
• providing Quality Improvement (QI) and Quality Assurance (QA) oversight for in-county EMS care
• participating in the development and administration of EMS training initiatives
• defining EMS equipment specifications
• ensuring effective EMS communications systems coordination
• providing operations support (e.g. secondary response, quality assurance, etc.) for all emergency response providers
• ensuring MCFRS compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and federal and state regulations
• administering the majority of MCFRS’ legal obligations relating to the retention and disclosure of patient care and other operational reports and records

Over the course of forty plus years, pre-hospital medicine (commonly called Emergency Medical Services or EMS) in the United States has evolved. In the late 60’s, the first standardized Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) curriculum came into existence which was notable specifying a minimum set of specific skills and qualifications. Later, in the early 70’s, an Emergency Medical Technician – Paramedic curriculum also came into existence. The MCFRS was instrumental in the development of both of these standards of care in the state of Maryland.

Since that time, EMS has progressed. Scope of practice has greatly expanded, minimum skills, training, and education have increased, and traditional fire departments have gradually accepted the reality that aside from law enforcement, EMS has (and remains) the primary reason why our residents call for emergent help. In many respects, we have evolved into an “EMS-based fire department.” The MCFRS prides itself on providing outstanding and rapid treatment and transport for patients suffering from time dependent medical emergencies such as heart attacks, strokes, traumatic injuries and cardiac arrests. We remain firmly committed to this aspect of our EMIHS program.

However, the MCFRS has come to understand that sometimes patients with frequent calls to 911 have unfulfilled chronic needs and has instituted a Mobile Integrated Health (MIH) program to better meet serve these patients. MIH addresses the growing disparity between the volume of emergency 911 calls we respond and the limited availability of our EMS resources. Through partnerships with local hospitals, the health department, and various community groups, MIH works to pair these patients with a variety of existing community-based medical and social programs. The net result is these users are better served because they ultimately receive more appropriate types and levels of healthcare which meet their specific needs. And, emergency response capabilities remain available to serve our residents who are experiencing high priority emergency medical events.

Since MIH works in tandem with EMS, it makes sense that our name reflects our current mission: Emergency Medical and Integrated Healthcare Services.