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EMS leaders seek more EMTs, paramedic training slots and pilot mobile integrated health program
Summary
Sedgwick County EMS proposed hiring additional EMTs and supporting a paramedic training pipeline; leaders also asked to pilot a mobile integrated health (community paramedic) program to divert non‑transport patients from emergency departments and better align resources.
Sedgwick County EMS leaders briefed the commission on several staff‑driven decision packages: (1) funding tuition and stipends for EMT‑to‑paramedic training slots, (2) adding full‑time EMT positions to increase ambulance availability, and (3) piloting a mobile integrated health (community paramedic) program to deliver in‑place care for high‑utilizers and vulnerable populations.
Chief Kevin Lanterman (identified in the budget discussion as the EMS leader) and EMS staff said the county’s EMT‑to‑paramedic (E2P) pipeline has been successful: the most recent class graduated about 21 recruits and the program both supplies the county with paramedics and provides a contractual commitment for those trainees. EMS asked for funding that would cover tuition, fees and books for trainees and support six additional operational EMT positions; the departments said those EMT positions can be used immediately to staff more ambulances while the E2P program supplies paramedics over time.
EMS leaders also proposed a pilot mobile integrated health role—a clinician or paramedic who conducts follow‑ups and in‑place care for frequent callers or people with barriers to access (housing, medication management). Staff emphasized this program would not reduce call volume immediately but would aim to match the right resource to the right patient and reduce avoidable transports to hospitals. The EMS team said a meaningful pilot requires partnerships with hospitals and community providers and asked commissioners to consider a phased pilot financed partly with EMS revenue and external partners.
Commissioners asked for more analysis and a glide‑path approach. Several commissioners expressed support for piloting community paramedic activity in high‑demand neighborhoods and asked staff to quantify how many additional ambulances would actually be available if the department hired six EMTs now versus other staffing choices. Commissioners also asked staff to provide more explicit deployment models, to quantify expected impacts on status‑zero events (times when no ambulances are available), and to document options for billing or revenue capture for non‑transport services.
No formal action was taken. Staff said they will return with expanded deployment modeling, revenue and billing options, and pilot designs including partner agreements.
