MAY 2020 / IN THIS ISSUE
  • Programs Are Requested to Pay Invoices Via ACH
  • Don't Get Fooled by a Scam Annual Fee Invoice!
  • Annual Fee Due July 1
  • Webinar on May 28: Lessons Learned from COVID-19
  • Webinar Recording Available on Progress Reports, Response to Findings Letter
  • New Tool:Temporary Waiver of Program Minimums COVID-19
  • Program Directors to Serve as Billing Contacts
  • Board Member Dr. James Atkins Receives ACEP Award
  • NHTSA Survey Shows COVID-19 Impact on Programs
  • Important to Know
  • CoAEMSP Annual Report Now Due June 30
  • Office Closed for Memorial Day
  • Milestones
  • By the Numbers
  • Accreditation Workshops Temporarily Cancelled
Programs Are Requested to Pay Invoices Via Automated Clearing House (ACH)
Contact: Heather Parker, heather@coaemsp.org or 214-703-8445, x116

In an effort to save time, streamline processes, reduce data entry, and eliminate additional processing fees, the CoAEMSP is encouraging all programs to pay invoices via Automated Clearing House (ACH).

ACH payments are electronic payments that transfer funds directly from a checking account to the payee. Instead of writing out and mailing a paper check, the money moves automatically.

You may pay invoices by ACH or the View and Pay Invoice option that will appear in the email with the invoice. Credit cards are not accepted. The CoAEMSP will accept checks; however, know that we are moving toward requiring all payments to be made via ACH or View and Pay.

All programs selecting to pay by ACH should email a payment advice to heather@coaemsp.org. (A payment advice provides the details on a payment and provides advance notice to the recipient.)

The advantages of paying via ACH or the View and Pay Invoice are:
•  pay directly through the invoice
•  secure environment
•  payment processes in 3 days instead of 3 weeks (checks)
•  automatically applies to the invoice (less data entry errors)

Below is an example of the ACH Payment Advice, which provides the details on a payment and provides advance notice to the recipient.

Thank you for helping to make the payment process more efficient.
Don't Get Fooled by a Scam Invoice!
Annual Accreditation Fee Due July 1
Contact: Heather Parker, heather@coaemp.org , 214-703-8445, x116

On May 5, all program directors for the CoAEMSP Letter of Review Programs and the CAAHEP Accredited Programs, along with each of the 14 sponsors of CoAEMSP, received their annual fee invoices from the email address: heather@coaemsp.org.

You are encouraged to pay the annual fee by ACH or the View and Pay Invoice option in the email. (Credit cards are not accepted.)

The fee is due July 1, 2020. If you have questions about the invoice or other accounting related items, please contact Heather Parker ( heather@coaemp.org, 214-703-8445, x116).

DON'T FALL PREY TO SCAM INVOICES!

The CoAEMSP sends all invoices in the form of an attachment, NOT a link, and you will never be asked for sensitive information! The CoAEMSP has been alerted that scam invoices have been received with the address of coaemsp.org. These emails request that you follow a link to make your payment. Do not click on a link to make a payment!

The CoAEMSP will never ask for sensitive information; all invoices will be in the form of attachments, NOT hyperlinks. If you receive suspicious looking email, contact the CoAEMSP directly (do NOT click on a link in any suspicious email) and we can advise you whether or not the email is legitimate.
Webinar
Lessons Learned by Paramedic Programs: Early Takeaways from COVID-19
THURSDAY, MAY 28, 1pm CENTRAL

How are Paramedic programs responding to COVID-19? What lessons are being learned? Join the CoAEMSP leadership for an interactive session on lessons learned by Paramedic programs and early takeaways. Share your program’s lessons learned and hear what other programs are doing. You just might walk away with more ideas for your program!

Topics discussed will be driven by the guests, but may include: remote examination; campus closures; communicating with students, State Offices of EMS, administration, state higher education authorities and institutional accreditors; developing written action plans; keeping students who are paused engaged; availability of lab, clinical, and capstone field internship.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Webinar Recording Now Available!
Preparing Your Progress Report or Response to Findings Letter
ACCESS THE MAY 7 WEBINAR HERE .

The site visit and accreditation process commonly result in one or more citations that require a Response to the Site Visit Findings Letter or a Progress Report. These are critical documents as the program moves through accreditation.

Questions may be: what exactly are they looking for, what specifically do I need to submit, and how much detail is expected? Programs can actually submit too much data that may not be concise or does not address the citation. This ‘information overload' can result in further delaying demonstration of satisfactory compliance and the need to submit additional progress reports, further postponing acceptance.

The webinar addressed the keys to an appropriate response.
New Tool Now Available
Temporary Waiver of Program Minimums COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated changes in the normal operation of Paramedic educational programs. Requirements by state regulatory and health authorities, as well as the hospitals and EMS agencies who provide clinical and capstone field internship, have resulted in modifications of content delivery, scheduling, and student progression through the Program.

One of the requirements for graduation is successful completion of specified minimum numbers of skills, patient types and ages, and competencies. These are tracked through the laboratory, clinical, field experience, and capstone field internship phases.

The CoAEMSP has granted programs the ability to modify requirements during the COVID-19 situation and some requirements can be simulated until October 31, 2020. See the April 5, 2020 CoAEMSP Updated Statement Regarding COVID-19 (Coronavirus): “Paramedic educational programs may employ a broader array of approaches, including simulation, in determining competency in didactic, laboratory, clinical, field experience, and capstone field internship”.

ACCESS THE NEW TOOL HERE.
Program Directors Will Now Serve as Billing Contacts For Programs
Effective immediately, the Program Director will serve as the Billing Contact for the program. The program is no longer required to submit a personnel contact form for the Billing Contact.
Board Member Dr. James Atkins is Recognized with 2020 ACEP Award
The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) announced the 2020 recipients of its Awards Program, which was created to honor leadership and excellence. Long-standing CoAEMSP Board Member James M. Atkins, MD, received the Outstanding Contribution in EMS Award for his significant professional contributions as well as service to ACEP. The award will be presented to Dr. Atkins at the ACEP annual meeting this fall.

We salute Dr. Atkins for receiving this coveted award!
Survey Conducted for NHTSA Shows Impact of COVID-19 on Paramedic Educational Programs
In support of the work of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to identify the status of the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Education Pipeline, the CoAEMSP conducted a survey of Paramedic education programs to determine the overall impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Paramedic education programs.

Each Paramedic program that held either the CoAEMSP Letter of Review or CAAHEP accreditation was asked if the program was functioning and if the programs answered 'yes', the program was asked to identify which components were active.

The results represent an exceptional response rate of 85.7% or 600 programs out of a possible 700. (Out of 700 programs, four were excluded due to the programs' blocking receipt of the SurveyMonkey link, and four programs that have since received Letter of Review designation.)

The following graphs illustrate the results of the survey. Read NHTSA’s summary document in its entirety here.
Important to Know!
  • The CoAEMSP Board of Directors is composed of 30 board members, of which more than half have experience as a program director or medical director of a CAAHEP-accredited Paramedic educational program.

  • CAAHEP is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). In the United States, accrediting organizations are non-governmental organizations that review and evaluate institutions or programs and render judgments about their accreditation status. An accrediting organization that has been reviewed and determined to meet the standards of an external body such as CHEA or the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) is considered “recognized.”

  • All accrediting organizations provide information to the public about the institutions and programs they accredit and when those institutions and programs have been reviewed. Get a complete list of recognized accrediting organizations and their accredited institutions or programs, here:

and
CoAEMSP Office Closed Monday, May 25 in Observance of Memorial Day
Remembering those who gave their lives so that ours can be safe.

Have a safe Memorial Day especially during these uncertain times.
CoAEMSP Annual Report Now Due June 30

The CoAEMSP has extended the deadline for Annual Reports to June 30, 2020 because the health and safety of our volunteers, educators, and students is our top priority.

If you are a program director of a CoAEMSP Letter of Review or CAAHEP accredited Paramedic Program, then you received in January the Excel-based Annual Report form from the email AnnualReports@coaemsp.org. If you did not receive this email, first check your junk and spam folders. If the email is still not there, then email AnnualReports@coaemsp.org and let us know! Annual Reports are due no later than June 30.

The Annual Report is based on the 2018 calendar year and its graduates, and will be due June 30, 2020. This allows the program at minimum one (1) year to gather all relevant data and allows sufficient time to send out and gather results for the Graduate and Employer Surveys for the applicable annual report year.

Paramedic educational programs are required to submit an annual report that encompasses the following three (3) key metrics:
1. Retention
2. Positive Placement
3. Success on the credentialing written (cognitive) exam.

All CAAHEP accredited and CoAEMSP Letter of Review (LoR) programs will be required to complete the Annual Report and publish the outcomes from their annual report on their website. Outcomes will be for the year reported (and no longer based on a 3-year average).

As the CoAEMSP continues to strive to become more outcomes-oriented in its approach to EMS education, the evaluation of identified outcomes measures becomes increasingly important.

When reports are not submitted on time, additional work is incurred by staff – work that can be prevented. Remember, submit on or before June 30!
For a current list of LoR and accredited programs, visit www.caahep.org.
Milestones
Jonathan Willoughby, DET, NRP, a site visitor for the CoAEMSP, earned the Doctorate in Educational Technology from Central Michigan University, which was conferred on May 8, 2020.

Justin Allen, MEd, NRP, program director of the Paramedic program at Arkansas State University, Beebe, Ark., earned the Masters in Education degree from Arkansas State University, Beebe, which was conferred on May 9, 2020.
Accreditation Workshops Temporarily Cancelled
Due to COVID-19, accreditation workshops have been cancelled until further notice. Conditions will be monitored, and workshops will be scheduled when it is deemed safe for gatherings to take place. While our goal is to provide these resources to aid in your program's accreditation, your safety remains a priority as well. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
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