Mobile Integrated Health

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is Mobile Integrated Health (MIH)?

  MIH is a patient-centered model of care delivered in a patient's home or in a mobile environment. This includes teams that come to patients as well as the use of telehealth platforms. Community paramedics can visit patients at their home and assist with health screenings, vaccinations, treatments and follow-ups. MIH can also include social work, substance abuse resources, mental health, chronic disease management and more.

  For more information on MIH, see the 2017 presentation The Role of EMS in Our System of Health Care.

• How new is Mobile Integrated Health?

  In 2019, Indiana enacted a law allowing the Indiana EMS Commission to establish and define Mobile Integrated Health Care, also known as community paramedicine, in the state. Thirty-three other states have adopted similar systems to provide supportive services and resources to patients who come in contact with EMS teams.

  More than a dozen Indiana communities have established community paramedicine programs using private or grant funding. A bill passed in 2020 decoupled reimbursement and transportation by EMS to provide a wider range of funding sources that coincide with more proactive treatment during emergency runs.

• What are the benefits of Mobile Integrated Health?

  Among the measured benefits experienced nationally with these programs are decreased admissions to the hospital, decreased costs of treatment to patients, better integration of EMS into the health care system and increased savings to commercial insurance companies. It may also reduce nonemergency 911 calls that otherwise would tie up emergency services.

• What does a Mobile Integrated Health visit look like?

  It depends on the agency, but a community paramedic may spend the workday out of the office on home wellness checks. These home visits can last from 10 minutes to two hours, as the paramedic may be providing checkups or taking the time to build trust with the patient that would otherwise not be feasible in transport or hospital environments.

• What is the current status of Indiana's Mobile Integrated Health system?

  The Indiana EMS Commission is working to provide guidance and structure to communities seeking to establish their own community paramedicine programs in the future.