REPLICA Connections
The increase of mobility within the EMS profession has focused the attention of regulators and policymakers on the barriers experienced by personnel when crossing state borders in the line of duty. REPLICA is the collective solution to removing those barriers while implementing an umbrella of quality over interstate practice. Learn more about REPLICA from members of the EMS community as they share their thoughts on why REPLICA is important to them and how REPLICA will impact our profession.
Make the connection and watch REPLICA link the nation of EMS closer together.
Ed Schauster
Idaho
As a Division Chief of EMS for a fire-based ALS transport agency and a flight paramedic, I understand first hand the difficulties and complexities of providing EMS across state lines. REPLICA represents a step forward for pre-hospital providers and constitutes a ‘compact’ style multi-state agreement that most all other medical professionals benefit from. REPLICA’s consensus based initial licensure requirements, continuing education obligations and consolidation of scope of practice variances, will simplify what at times can be a frustrating experience navigating individual state differences for providers and agency administrators alike. It will provide greater flexibility, portability, and protections for responders working across state lines by providing a privilege to practice in member states. For patient’s it provides greater assurance that nationally recognized standards are being followed when it comes to the care they receive.
Paramedic | NRP
Alisa Williams
Mississippi
As both a Paramedic and a state EMS Director, I have spent countless hours working with EMS personnel and their leaders in our state to try to solve issues associated with crossing state borders while providing life saving care. And Mississippi is not alone. As a member of the National Association of State EMS Officials (NASEMSO) I also continue to collaborate with my peers throughout the nation for solutions to this very issue.
In many states, EMS personnel are required to carry multiple licenses to effectively provide essential services to patients needing access to care. At the same time, we as regulators must ensure that the highest level of quality care is being maintained while ensuring the public’s health and safety.
Enter REPLICA. A much needed solution for our state and our country. Under this compact, EMS personnel will have the ability to share a common standard for initial licensure in member states, and state EMS Offices will have access to all related licensure history for those same EMTs and Paramedics crossing state borders through a national coordinated database.
As healthcare professionals, an interstate compact has been needed for EMS for some time for the benefit of both for our personnel and our patients. This is a truly exciting time in EMS!
Alisa Habeeb Williams, NRP, Director Bureau of Emergency Medical Services Mississippi State Department of Health
Lucille Maes
Texas
“I have spent almost thirty years serving Angleton, Texas, as an EMS professional, with over seven years of that time as a volunteer. The opportunity to take care of my neighbors and to be a part of the EMS team in greater Texas has been very important to me, as this is my passion. In 2005 I sent one of our MICU staffed ambulances, through an official EMAC request, to serve across the border in Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina. Our staff, our protocols, our medical direction was all intact during that deployment. It struck me that day to day calls across state lines, calls for mutual aid and large events that are not at the level of a disaster declaration did not provide for a seamless transition due to licensing requirements that varied it the states that surround Texas. Our EMT and Paramedic students are met with access to clinical challenges for the same reason. You don’t have to serve in a border community to know the importance of easing the burdens on our EMS personnel who are simply trying to do their job. In order to change this, in 2015 I took part in an effort to pass REPLICA in Texas as I understood that our EMS team was greater than just my small town and just my state. I remain proud to support REPLICA as I know that it will ensure quality and accountability in our profession when crossing state lines while easing regulatory burdens and improving access to patient care. I am so pleased to know REPLICA is now a reality in our nation!”
Lucille Maes, LP Chief Angleton Area Emergency Medical Corps
Will Smith
Wyoming
“As an EMS Medical Director I applaud the standardization that REPLICA brings to cross-border pre-hospital practice. My EMS personnel will have the protection they need to do their jobs under the Compact’s privilege to practice while operating in member states. Additionally, I will know that EMS personnel coming into Wyoming are subject to the same standards. With REPLICA out of state EMS personnel will be held accountable to Wyoming EMS laws and rules, another level of quality control we did not previously have in place. In the end, the patients will benefit the most from the protections built into REPLICA.”
Medical Director, Grand Teton National Park, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Teton County Search and Rescue, Jackson Hole Fire/EMS
Sean Caffrey
Colorado
“Wildfires are a common occurrence every summer in the West. EMS providers with specialized training are the best choice to support wildfire responses. REPLICA will allow EMS providers who participate as federal and state wildfire EMS resources to more easily do their important work across state lines while minimizing the impact of these large and long term events on local EMS.”
MBA, CEMSO, NRP | EMS Programs Manager University of Colorado Denver, Vice President of the EMS Association of Colorado Inc
Eddie Ferguson
Virginia
EMS Providers in Virginia need to know we have seamless coverage and medical direction when crossing state lines and performing patient care. Many jurisdictions bordering the surrounding states, cross state lines multiple times during day to day operations, providing mutual aid and assisting their neighboring jurisdiction. The same support and assistance is reciprocated by the out of state Fire and/or EMS department. In numerous other cases both ground and air ambulances cross state lines daily to transport patients to the closest most appropriate hospital. Let’s all come together as a profession and get this accomplished for both present and future EMS Providers, and ultimately our patients who are counting on us!
VAGEMSA (Virginia Association of Governmental EMS Administrators) successfully supported REPLICA through the 2016 Session of the Virginia General Assembly.
NRP,CCEMT-P | Deputy Chief of EMS Goochland County Department of Fire-Rescue & EMS