EMS Counts Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8592 To require the Secretary of Labor to revise the Standard Occupational Classi- fication System to accurately count the number of emergency medical services practitioners in the United States. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 13, 2020 Ms. WILD (for herself and Mr. KELLER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To require the Secretary of Labor to revise the Standard Occupational Classification System to accurately count the number of emergency medical services practitioners in the United States. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘EMS Counts Act of 4 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:14 Oct 31, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8592.IH H8592 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8592 IH (1) Emergency Medical Services (in this Act re- 1 ferred to as ‘‘EMS’’) personnel provide a critical role 2 in emergency response. EMS consists of a diverse 3 group of health care practitioners, such as para- 4 medics, emergency medical technicians (in this Act 5 referred to as ‘‘EMTs’’), dual-role firefighter/EMTs, 6 firefighter/paramedics, and volunteer personnel serv- 7 ing in each of such roles. 8 (2) EMS is an integral component of the re- 9 sponse capacity of the United States to disasters 10 and public health crises, such as outbreaks of infec- 11 tious diseases, bombings, mass shootings, earth- 12 quakes, tornadoes, and hurricanes. EMS personnel 13 respond to more than 22,000,000 emergency calls 14 each year including strokes, heart attacks, cardiac 15 arrest, and trauma. 16 (3) The Bureau of Labor Statistics compiles in- 17 formation on the number of individuals working in 18 roles across the entire United States workforce. The 19 Bureau of Labor Statistics completes this work by 20 maintaining the Standard Occupational Classifica- 21 tion system which classifies workers and jobs into 22 occupational categories for the purpose of collecting, 23 calculating, analyzing, or disseminating data. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:14 Oct 31, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8592.IH H8592 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8592 IH (4) The BLS fails to accurately count EMS 1 practitioners because of its failure to include dual- 2 role firefighter/EMTs and firefighter/paramedics in 3 their count of EMS personnel. 4 (5) Accurately counting the EMS workforce is 5 critical for government agencies in determining the 6 needs of EMS agencies and practitioners. These 7 data are also crucial for informing many aspects of 8 policy including preparedness for natural disasters, 9 public health emergencies, and acts of terrorism. 10 SEC. 3. RECOGNITION OF DUAL-ROLE FIREFIGHTERS AS 11 EMS PRACTITIONERS. 12 Not later than 120 days after the date of the enact- 13 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor shall revise the 14 broad description under the occupational series ‘‘33–2011 15 Firefighters’’ of the 2018 Standard Occupational Classi- 16 fication System of the Bureau of Labor Statistics to in- 17 clude the following detailed occupations: 18 (1) Firefighters. 19 (2) Firefighter/EMTs. 20 (3) Firefighter/Paramedics. 21 (4) Firefighters, All Other. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:14 Oct 31, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8592.IH H8592 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8592 IH SEC. 4. REPORTS TO CONGRESS. 1 Not later than 270 days after the enactment of this 2 Act, the Secretary of Labor shall submit to Congress a 3 report that details— 4 (1) the actions taken in 2015 to expand the 5 definition ‘‘29–2040 Emergency Medical Technicians 6 and Paramedics’’ to separately account for the num- 7 bers of EMTs and paramedics; and 8 (2) the implementation of the revisions under 9 section 3. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:14 Oct 31, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8592.IH H8592 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS