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The American Ambulance Association recently held its annual AAA Stars of Life event in Washington, D.C. The American Ambulance Association鈥檚 Stars of Life program celebrates the contributions of ambulance professionals who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in service to their communities or the EMS profession.
While in Washington, EMS One-Stop Host Rob Lawrence interviewed AAA President Randy Strozyk, on the aims and objectives of the stars program and the 2023 Legislator of the Year. Rob also spoke with AAA Medical Director Dr. Gerad Troutman, who is AAA鈥檚 first medical director. Finally, Rob chats with AAA Immediate Past President, Shawn Baird, on the Federal Balanced Billing legislation and the role that AAA and others are playing in protecting both the patient and EMS agencies.
Top quotes from this episode
鈥淓very provider is out to make a difference, but to actually be recognized for it, which you don鈥檛 often get the opportunity to have, makes it that much more of an honor to be selected for something like this鈥� 鈥� Paramedic Erica Brockman
鈥淎AA stars and hundreds of thousands of people like you are the beginning of the healing process. When somebody is hurt, somebody is wounded, somebody is scared, it is the EMT that first touches that patient and then begins to transport into the healthcare system when the rest of the healthcare system can then kick in to what it does, but it would not start unless it begins with you.鈥� 鈥� Senator Bill Cassidy
鈥淭hink about when Covid hit, at 0200 in the morning, we were the ones that came, we were the ones that had to deal with a whole new level of challenges, not only Covid, but we had to deal with the fact that people didn鈥檛 want to go to the hospital, so we were providing levels of care, interfacing, making sure that people had connections. I see that as a bright future to how EMS will progress in the next decade鈥� 鈥� AAA President Rany Strozyk
鈥淚鈥檓 really passionate about patients called 911 looking for solutions to a problem and that solution is not always an ambulance to take them to an emergency department, so we try to impact their care differently, especially lower acuity patients, because we now have all the technology and tools to treat them in place with our paramedics or EMTs on site of even treating them utilizing a navigation program from the 911 system, the PSAP and maybe get them to an urgent care or virtual care doctor, where they can be cared for right in their home. Patients love it and the best thing is it really puts the 鈥楨鈥� back in EMS and allows us to save those emergent resources that need those most.鈥� 鈥� Dr. Gerad Troutman, AAA medical director
鈥淲e will be coming back to Congress with a recommendation that ground ambulance not be rolled into the No Surprises Act. That (if we were included) would be devastating to access for care.鈥� 鈥� Shawn Baird, immediate past president, AAA
Episode contents
00:21 鈥� Opening: Erica Brockman
01:02 鈥� Introduction: Rob Lawrence
01:36 鈥� Randy Strozyk, president, American Ambulance Association
05:12 鈥� Key areas of legislation for 2023/24
08:07 鈥� Presentation of Legislator of the Year: Senator Bill Cassidy
11:00 鈥� Dr. Gerad Troutman, AAA medical director
17:00 鈥� Federal Balanced Billing Committee: Shawn Baird
18:35 鈥� Summary and close
Additional resources
The full bios for all of the AAA Class of 2023 Stars of Life can be found .
Listen to next: Alexia Jobson, Dr. Peter Antevy, Brian Maloney, Doug Wolfberg and more join the EMS One-Stop podcast to discuss takeaways from the show
About our guests
Randy Strozyk brings to his leadership of the American Ambulance Association more than 34 years of experience in EMS operations and management. He has been part of the American Medical Response leadership team for 16 years, and currently serves as the company鈥檚 executive vice president of operations.
Strozyk earned his EMT/paramedic certification and worked on an ambulance while studying microbiology at Washington State University. He later earned an MBA from California State University. He has been heavily involved in the American Ambulance Association for nearly two decades and is the current president of the organization.
Gerad Troutman, MD, MBA, FACEP, FAEMS, is the national medical director for innovative practices at Global Medical Response. He is an assistant professor of Emergency Medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, Texas, and serves as a mentor to the Texas Tech Innovations Hub. He is a past president of the Texas College of Emergency Physicians and currently serves on the Governor鈥檚 EMS & Trauma Advisory Council of Texas.
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