Findings

Congress makes the following findings: (1)There are approximately 26,000,000 child and adolescent visits to the Nation’s emergency departments every year. (2)Approximately 90 percent of children requiring emergency care are seen in general hospitals, not in free standing children’s hospitals, with one-quarter to one-third of the patients being seen in hospitals with no separate pediatric ward. (3)Injury and poisoning combined are the most common reason for pediatric emergency department visits, accounting for nearly thirty percent of such visits, while respiratory disorders such as asthma account for another 26 percent of pediatric emergency department visits. (4)Up to one-quarter of children needing emergency care have special health care needs due to underlying medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes, sickle-cell disease, low birth weight, and Broncho pulmonary dysplasia. (5)The Emergency Medical Services for Children Program under section 1910 of the Public Health Service Act is the only Federal program that focuses specifically on improving the pediatric components of the emergency medical services (EMS) system. (6)The Emergency Medical Services for Children Program has, in the past and present, funded and supported pediatric emergency care improvement initiatives in every State and United States Territory to expand and improve emergency care for children who need treatment for life threatening illnesses and injuries by— (A)completing the only national assessment of pediatric pre-hospital emergency care in the Nation; (B)assessing the access to medical direction for emergency medical services providers treating and transporting pediatric patients, appropriate pediatric equipment and supplies on ambulances to treat children, and availability of inter-facility transfer agreements and guidelines designed to expedite the transfer of pediatric patients to the most appropriate facility; (C)assuring that Basic and Advance Life Support providers receive pediatric education to maintain competencies necessary to treat pediatric patients; and (D)addressing regionalization of care and telemedicine that allow for timely transfers or care delivery to critically ill or injured children in rural or tribal settings where specialty care is not readily available. (7)The Emergency Medical Services for Children Program is celebrating its 30th anniversary, marking three decades of driving key improvements in emergency medical services to children, and should continue its mission to reduce child and youth morbidity and mortality by supporting improvements in the quality of all emergency medical and emergency surgical care children receive.