Placed here due to no more appropriate category and I hope the mods can adjust as appropriate.
Emergency Medical Services were placed under the auspices of Department of Transportation at its inception. This was because the creation of ambulance services was largely to address the need to safely transport victims of motor vehicle collisions.
This functioned as intended and the launch of EMS was largely successful. However EMS has evolved, the overwhelming majority of 911 requests for ambulance assistance are not related to Motor Vehicle collisions. Additionally the nation suffers from Paramedic and EMT shortages. Part of this is caused by high attrition and burnout rates. A large motivation for people leaving EMS is due lower wages when compared to other healthcare providers. One mechanism that keeps EMS wages artificially lower is that, due to falling under DOT, EMS isn’t considered medical. We have no national voice, we have no union, we have no federal backers, we have no voice and therefore no ability to engage in collective bargaining. Transitioning EMS to DHHS resolves many of these issues and place EMS in its current and most applicable department.
I hope this is the start of a productive conversation and thank you for taking the time to read this.