So why would there be opposition to legislation allowing for integrated, world-class health care and Emergency Medical Services for Camden residents? Emergency Medical Services for Camden residents currently are fragmented and administered by two institutions with little connection to Camden: (1) a hospital that is 88 miles away, no longer wants to provide the services, and operates the services at an annual $1 million loss to New Jersey taxpayers; and (2) a community hospital that claims it loses $1 million a year on the service and that moved its headquarters out of Camden City to more affluent suburbs 15 years ago, violating a commitment made at the time to former Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts and various officeholders. The time for change is now. Integratedprehospital<\/em> care is not happening in Camden. But it should be.<\/p>\n That is why S-2980\/A-4526 aligns Advanced Life Support (ALS) services and Basic Life Support (BLS) and provides the opportunity to improve the quality and efficiency of care for Camden residents.<\/p>\n Integrated \u201ccommunity paramedicine\u201d in Camden will help alleviate unmet healthcare needs. What this translates to is mobile health resources and the potential for decreased preventable readmissions through post-discharge visits, including assessments, medication reconciliation, telemedicine and physician communication. It ensures patients\u2019 health needs are being met and that the right person is delivering the right care at the right time.<\/p>\n This bill is consistent with the landmark trauma system-enabling law passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor in 2014, and with the recommendations of the American College of Surgeons\u2019 NJ Trauma System Survey. That law is currently being implemented by the New Jersey Department of Health.<\/p>\n Camden\u2019s Emergency Medical Services should be managed by a world-class health care system located in Camden and committed to Camden: Cooper University Health Care\u2014a \u201cnationally respected trauma center\u201d according to the New York Times<\/em>, reporting a former Governor\u2019s trauma care at Cooper. City residents deserve no less. Eighty-seven percent of Camden residents seek emergency care at hospitals in Camden and 93 percent of hospitalizations for city residents are in Camden hospitals. Cooper University Health Care\u2019s partnership with the internationally renowned MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and as the clinical campus to Cooper Medical School of Rowan University provides unparalleled health care access, has invested in Camden and has every incentive to ensure the coordination of care to identify problems early and reduce complications.<\/p>\n Every day we treat injured patients and others with critical health care needs. Residents of Camden deserve high-quality emergency services and health care, just like every person in New Jersey.<\/p>\n Why now? City residents should not have to wait for integrated, world-class health care access that already exists in Camden. The time is now to allow Cooper to support an EMS Program that provides the highest quality of care to the people of Camden through a robust medical direction program.<\/p>\n I respectfully request you vote \u201cYES\u201d on Senate Bill 2980\/Assembly Bill 4526.<\/strong><\/p>\n You may be aware of recent, intense media coverage of a proposed piece of New Jersey legislation to align Advanced Life Support (ALS) and Basic Life Support (BLS) in the City of Camden under a single Emergency Medical Services (EMS) provider to improve the quality and efficiency of care in our traditionally underserved urban setting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[7163],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-mmanibo","4":"has-excerpt","5":"post-6550","7":"format-standard","8":"category-announcements","9":"category-in-the-news","10":"post_tag-ems-legislation"},"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/assets.cooperhealth.org\/email\/2015_06_letter\/sig.jpg\")
\nSteven E. Ross, MD<\/strong>
\nDirector, Center for Trauma Services, Cooper University Health Care
\nProfessor of Surgery, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"