New county medical director outlines quality‑assurance work, trauma and pandemic preparations

Dr. Michael Summers, the county’s jurisdictional medical director, told the Board of County Commissioners on Aug. 25 that his first year on contract produced a functioning medical-direction structure, a new quality-assurance program for emergency medical services and changes to local practice after statewide trauma‑system updates.

“COMAR Title 30 requires it,” Dr. Summers said of the regulatory reason the county created the medical‑director contract. He described the contract as allowing for liability protection and dedicated administrative time so a practicing physician can oversee EMS operations and quality management.

Summers told commissioners he concentrated on three goals in the first year: establishing comprehensive medical direction, creating a quality‑assurance (QA) program, and serving as a liaison to other providers, including the naval air station and hospitals. He said the QA work produced two committees: a Medical Review Committee that meets monthly to review adverse events, consistent with COMAR Title 30, and a Quality Management Board of QA officers that meets quarterly to set system benchmarks.

The medical director described how a state policy change after a fatal Maryland State Police helicopter crash led to broader physician consultation for air medevac triage and produced operational impacts across southern Maryland. To balance resource use and local readiness, Summers said the county and region negotiated a protocol called “essential resource extended drive time” that limits long ambulance transports when a trauma center was beyond a 30‑mile radius and prioritized air transport for certain cases. “I was an absolute supporter of that system,” Summers said, while also noting the county worked to adapt protocols so local ambulances were not routinely dispatched for lengthy out‑of‑county trips, which could leave the county short of resources.

Summers described steps now under way for the contract period ahead: expanding the QA program with prospective benchmarks using data from electronic medical dispatch and the CAD system; preparing EMS vaccination protocols for pandemic influenza so paramedics and other pre‑hospital providers can administer vaccines to front‑line public‑safety personnel; and addressing public access to EMS by improving advanced life‑support (ALS) training and by pursuing the “choose the right call” recommendation from a volunteer task force.

He told the commissioners county statistics from an earlier CAD review showing about 20 percent of county EMS transports originated from health‑care facilities (skilled nursing, urgent care, physician offices and assisted living), and that many of those transports occurred between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., when volunteer response is most strained. Summers said he is working with medical facilities to reduce unnecessary transports and to pilot programs to vaccinate first‑line providers.

Commissioners praised Summers’ efforts. Commissioner Daniel H. Raley said the SAFER grant application to fund a full‑time recruitment position for fire and EMS staffing could complement the medical director’s work on volunteer recruitment. County staff and the commissioners described the volunteer EMS system as under stress and said Summers’ quality‑assurance and outreach efforts were timely.

Summers closed by saying the contract is meeting its intended goals: it provides liability protections and administrative time, and has allowed the county to create a coordinated QA program that has already been used to adapt to trauma‑system changes and will be central to pandemic planning and public‑access work.

The commissioners invited follow‑up briefings and thanked Summers for his first‑year progress.