EMS Counts Act

Bill: 118-hr-2574
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Wild, Susan [D-PA-7]
Introduced: 2023-04-10
Policy area: Labor and Employment
Subjects: Census and government statistics

Congressional oversight

Emergency medical services and trauma care

Fires

First responders and emergency personnel

Government information and archives

Health personnel
Latest action: action_date: 2024-09-19
text: Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 588.

Summaries:
action_date: 2023-04-10
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><strong>EMS Counts Act</strong></p> <p>This bill requires the Department of Labor to revise the broad description under the occupational series <em>33-2011 Firefighters </em>of the 2018 Standard Occupational Classification System of the Bureau of Labor Statistics to separately account for firefighters who also serve as paramedics or emergency medical technicians (EMTs). Specifically, the classification system must include the following detailed occupations:</p> <ul> <li>Firefighters;</li> <li> Firefighter/EMTs;</li> <li> Firefighter/Paramedics; and</li> <li> Firefighters, All Other.</li> </ul>

tv_txt: IB Union Calendar No. 588 118th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 2574 [Report No. 118–694] IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES April 10, 2023 Ms. Wild (for herself, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania , and Ms. Norton ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce September 19, 2024 Additional sponsors: Ms. Pingree , Mr. Molinaro , Mr. Goldman of New York , and Mr. Fitzpatrick September 19, 2024 Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April 10, 2023 A BILL To require the Secretary of Labor to revise the Standard Occupational Classification System to accurately count the number of emergency medical services practitioners in the United States.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the EMS Counts Act . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Emergency medical services (in this Act referred to as EMS ) personnel provide a critical role in emergency response. EMS consists of a diverse group of health care practitioners, such as paramedics, emergency medical technicians (in this Act referred to as EMTs ), dual-role firefighter/EMTs, firefighter/paramedics, and volunteer personnel serving in each of such roles. (2) EMS is an integral component of the response capacity of the United States to disasters and public health crises, such as outbreaks of infectious diseases, bombings, mass shootings, earthquakes, tornadoes, and hurricanes. EMS personnel respond to more than 22,000,000 emergency calls each year including strokes, heart attacks, cardiac arrest, and trauma. (3) The Bureau of Labor Statistics compiles information on the number of individuals working in roles across the entire United States workforce. The Bureau of Labor Statistics completes this work by maintaining the Standard Occupational Classification system which classifies workers and jobs into occupational categories for the purpose of collecting, calculating, analyzing, or disseminating data. (4) The BLS fails to accurately count EMS practitioners because of its failure to include dual-role firefighter/EMTs and firefighter/paramedics in their count of EMS personnel. (5) Accurately counting the EMS workforce is critical for government agencies in determining the needs of EMS agencies and practitioners. These data are also crucial for informing many aspects of policy including preparedness for natural disasters, public health emergencies, and acts of terrorism. 3. Revision of Standard Occupational Classification system (a) In general The Director of the Office of Management and Budget (in this Act referred to as the Director ) shall, as part of the first revision process of the Standard Occupational Classification system occurring after the date of enactment of this Act, consider establishing a separate code, as a subset of firefighter occupations, for each of the following: (1) Firefighters. (2) Firefighter/EMTs. (3) Firefighter/Paramedics. (4) Firefighters, All Other. (b) Report to Congress If the Director decides not to establish the separate codes described in subsection (a), the Director shall, not later than 60 days after the Director announces in the Federal Register the final decision of the revision process described in such subsection, submit to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives a report explaining why such separate codes were not established.

September 19, 2024 Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

tv_txt: I 118th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 2574 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES April 10, 2023 Ms. Wild (for herself, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania , and Ms. Norton ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce A BILL To require the Secretary of Labor to revise the Standard Occupational Classification System to accurately count the number of emergency medical services practitioners in the United States.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the EMS Counts Act . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Emergency Medical Services (in this Act referred to as EMS ) personnel provide a critical role in emergency response. EMS consists of a diverse group of health care practitioners, such as paramedics, emergency medical technicians (in this Act referred to as EMTs ), dual-role firefighter/EMTs, firefighter/paramedics, and volunteer personnel serving in each of such roles. (2) EMS is an integral component of the response capacity of the United States to disasters and public health crises, such as outbreaks of infectious diseases, bombings, mass shootings, earthquakes, tornadoes, and hurricanes. EMS personnel respond to more than 22,000,000 emergency calls each year including strokes, heart attacks, cardiac arrest, and trauma. (3) The Bureau of Labor Statistics compiles information on the number of individuals working in roles across the entire United States workforce. The Bureau of Labor Statistics completes this work by maintaining the Standard Occupational Classification system which classifies workers and jobs into occupational categories for the purpose of collecting, calculating, analyzing, or disseminating data. (4) The BLS fails to accurately count EMS practitioners because of its failure to include dual-role firefighter/EMTs and firefighter/paramedics in their count of EMS personnel. (5) Accurately counting the EMS workforce is critical for government agencies in determining the needs of EMS agencies and practitioners. These data are also crucial for informing many aspects of policy including preparedness for natural disasters, public health emergencies, and acts of terrorism. 3. Recognition of dual-role firefighters as EMS practitioners Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor shall revise the broad description under the occupational series 33–2011 Firefighters of the 2018 Standard Occupational Classification System of the Bureau of Labor Statistics to include the following detailed occupations: (1) Firefighters. (2) Firefighter/EMTs. (3) Firefighter/Paramedics. (4) Firefighters, All Other. 4. Reports to Congress Not later than 270 days after the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor shall submit to Congress a report that details— (1) the actions taken in 2015 to expand the definition 29–2040 Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics to separately account for the numbers of EMTs and paramedics; and (2) the implementation of the revisions under section 3.