November 12 - 13, 2019, Columbus, OH

The National Registry of EMTs Board of Directors met on November 12 – 13, 2019 in Columbus, OH.
Below is a summary of the business conducted and actions approved by the Board:

• Strengthening the Core (STC). The National Registry continues to implement a multiyear project designed to strengthen our core as “The Nation’s EMS Certification Organization”: better alignment with the certification industry and adding greater value to the EMS profession. The STC project involves an overhaul of the Information Technology infrastructure, modernization of our examinations, and exploring long-term innovative approaches to continued competency.
  • The IT infrastructure overhaul continues to progress with enhanced cybersecurity, a comprehensive redesign of the organization’s database – adding new functionality supporting the EMS Compact and better integration with stakeholders – while dramatically improving the online user experiences. The National Registry is a technology enabled certification organization and as such, the technology overhaul allows for the organization to be equipped for the future.
  • The examinations improvement project continues to make substantial progress with the recent completion of the AEMT and Paramedic Practice Analysis; a comprehensive master pool review of examination items and psychomotor scenarios to ensure examination content is current and valid; and, the initial development of technology enhanced items.
  • The continued competency initiative is starting to progress with some initial focus groups and drafting of steering committees to guide the transformation of the existing continued competency process into one that further aligns with the certification industry and provides more value and meaningfulness to the EMS profession.
• 50th Anniversary: Honoring the past; Transforming the future. Next year, the National Registry celebrates its 50th anniversary! This milestone will be celebrated throughout all of 2020 and will be EMS-wide. There will be presentations at many national, regional, and local conferences commemorating the 50 years of EMS history, as well as looking forward to the transformation of the next 50 years in EMS. There will also be “Registry on the Road” sessions at local and rural EMS communities during which the history and future, and stories will be shared and celebrated. On June 5th, the signature event will take place in Columbus, Ohio, the home of the National Registry. A commemorative, limited edition 50th anniversary coin will be available soon.
• Elections
  • The board re-elected Claire Vecchio for a second term as a Public Member of the Board.
  • The Board elected a new Executive Committee, who will take office on 1/1/2020:
    • Chair: Dr. Heather Davis
    • Chair-Elect: Dr. Kevin Mackey
    • Past-Chair: Dr. Bob Swor
    • Treasurer: Dr. Mike McEvoy
    • Member at Large: Dr. Tom Platt
• Retiring Board members. Three Board members are retiring from the National Registry Board of Directors. Deb Cason, Past-Chair of the National Registry of EMTs Board of Directors, Dr. Sandy Hunter, Executive Committee Member-at-large, and Jose Salazar, NREMT Member At-Large are retiring after years of commitment and service to the organization as Board of Directors members. The Board of Directors greatly appreciates their years of service. Recruitment for vacancies will commence in the coming months.
• Motions/Resolutions approved by the Board. Click here to provide comments and feedback.
  • Approval of the 2020 Budget. The Board approved a $20.1M budget for 2020, which includes the operating budget and designated funds allocated for specific Strengthening the Core (STC) initiatives in 2020.
  • Certification Schemes. The board approved updated certification schemes for each of the Nationally Registered levels: EMR, EMT, AEMT, Paramedic. The schemes also address a number of identified inconsistencies and policy gaps: inactive status for EMRs and standardized re-entry pathways for Nationally Registered EMTs, AEMTs, and Paramedics. The approved schemes will be posted for public comment and will likely be implemented once the public comment period closes.
  • Request for Time Extensions. The board established the circumstances for which time extensions may be considered for initial certification and recertification. This policy will be posted for public comment and will likely be implemented once the public comment period closes. Before it is implemented, there will be communications to applicable teams within our organization and with our stakeholders throughout the EMS profession.
  • Remote Proctoring. The Board has approved the National Registry to explore pilot testing remote proctoring of our EMR cognitive examinations in the future. Remote proctoring is relatively new to the high-stakes certification industry and although the National Registry is not ready to do that now, the Board has granted approval to explore this in the future, as time and resources permit.
  • Removal of EMT Psychomotor Examination information from the National Registry website. The National Registry does not administer a psychomotor examination for EMTs or EMRs. However, the National Registry requires successful completion of a state-approved psychomotor examination as part of the EMT and EMR certification. Despite this, the National Registry has traditionally maintained skills sheets and related psychomotor examination reference information on its website. This has caused some confusion and since the skills sheets have not been updated in sometime, the Board motion calls for the EMT (and EMR) psychomotor examination information to be removed from the www.nremt.org website. This motion will be posted for public comment and will be implemented once the public comment period closes. Prior to removal, the National Registry will ensure the change is properly communicated with stakeholders (especially state offices and program directors).
  • The phrase “Nationally Registered” versus “Nationally Certified”. As the National REGISTRY of EMTs, the Board approved to move forward with consistently referring to our programs, and associated brand and marketing materials” as NATIONALLY REGISTERED instead of NATIONALLY CERTIFIED