Opinion: Mobile integrated health programs with paramedics should be on the front line of the Covid-19 fight
Long before the first case of a mystery respiratory disease was identified in China and eventually became a global pandemic, and long before U.S. hospitals began developing surge capacity plans to meet the present public health crisis, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts created a pathway to expand the scope of the frontline medical workforce by giving paramedics a broader role in the health care system — a role that’s needed nationally now more than ever.
In October 2014, the Commonwealth’s Department of Public Health granted a Special Projects Waiver to the not-for-profit Commonwealth Care Alliance (CCA) in partnership with EasCare Ambulance. It allowed specially trained paramedics to respond to the urgent care needs of CCA patients in their own homes. These paramedics could start medical care, including the administration of intravenous antibiotics, nebulizers, and others treatments that would traditionally require transportation to emergency departments or local hospitals.
