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Operations & systems
Community paramedic referrals cut ambulance use
Community Paramedics Address Health Inequities Within EMS Through Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH) Program Referrals from a "Medical Home"
Population Health Management · 2026-10-12 · Added 14 October 2026
Chicago fire-department community paramedics running a 4-visit referral program from primary care medical homes across hypertension, diabetes, asthma/COPD and heart failure pathways — 68 graduates saw 911 ambulance transports down 43%, ED visits down 46% and admissions down 42% at six months.
- Study type
- Cohort
- Design
- Before-and-after cohort
- Participants
- 68 program graduates (321 community paramedic visits)
- Main finding
- 43% fewer 911 ambulance transports, 46% fewer ED visits and 42% fewer hospital admissions in the six months post-program versus six months before
- Caveat
- Before-and-after design with no control group — regression to the mean likely inflates the reductions
- Bottom line
- Context only
Why it matters in Australia (Medium relevance). Community paramedicine is growing across Australia, but this US model sits inside a fire-department and health-system funding structure that doesn't map cleanly onto Australian ambulance services.
Learning goal
Understand how community paramedicine and primary care referral pathways can reduce avoidable ambulance use.
More
- Topic: Operations & systems
- Daily scan: 14 October 2026
- Podcast: Paramedic Papers Daily, 14 October 2026
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