News and Information

Updated Legislative Information on 12/08/08!

Important information on proposed EMS legislation!

Attached is important updated information for enhanced EMS funding through a legislative proposal. This is important for the funding of EMS’s future. Click here for the most recent draft proposal.

Also attached is a list of your local Senators and Representatives. Scroll to your county for your area contacts.

Feel free to contact members of EMS Region 1 if you have questions.

Data Fund Act Letter

July 17, 2008

Dear EMS Agency Directors and EMS Medical Directors,

Many of you are aware that the Emergency Medical Systems Bureau has an EMS data collection system. The New Mexico EMS Tracking and Reporting System (NMEMSTARS) was launched in May, 2007. To view the software, visit www.nmemstars.org, proceed to the log-on, and enter the username: provider, and the password: provider.

The collection of EMS data is critical to the future of New Mexico’s EMS system. To that end, the Fund Act regulations (7.24.4 NMAC) state that for agencies to be eligible for Fund Act monies, “the service shall participate in the bureau’s pre-hospital data collection system, as determined by the bureau, by using the bureau’s software, web-site or by submitted compatible data.”

When a service completes an application for Fund Act monies in January of every year, the service’s EMS call volume is a part of the formula that determines their share of the Fund Act monies. This number is, per the Fund Act, based on the number of runs that occurred during the preceding federal fiscal year which runs from October through September. For example, the applications that were submitted to the EMS Bureau in January, 2008 should have listed the number of responses that occurred from October, 2006 through September, 2007.

Beginning with the applications for Fund Act monies due in January, 2010 the EMS Bureau will use the following criteria to calculate a service’s Fund Act distribution:

• The run volume listed must be the number of calls that occurred during the previous federal fiscal year. For applications due January 2010, this is 10/1/2008 – 9/30/2009.
• To be fully credited for this number of calls for Fund Act distribution, this data must be entered into the NMEMSTARS system.

An informational document with frequently asked questions is included with this letter. If you have any questions or problems, or need to arrange NMEMSTARS training for your service, contact names and numbers are listed on the last page of that document. Thank you for your dedication to the success of the New Mexico EMS System. Take care, and be safe.

Sincerely,

Kyle L. Thornton
Emergency Medical Systems Bureau Chief