Johnston County Emergency Medical Services Community Paramedic Program
- Program Representative Interviewed: Ashley Nelson, Community Paramedic Coordinator
- Location: Johnston County, North Carolina
- Program Overview: Johnston County Emergency Medical Services Community Paramedic Program's goal is to reduce hospital readmission rates. The program has access to the hospital's electronic health records and reviews discharge and readmission data to identify potential clients. The program provides a variety of case management services including medication reconciliation, home safety assessments, vital sign checks, doctor appointment scheduling, and connecting patients with support services like Meals on Wheels. The program assesses patients through its health confidence score, which asks patients to rate how confident they are in managing their health on a scale of 1 to 10. Patients rate their health confidence at the beginning and end of the program and must achieve a score of eight or greater to graduate from the program. Most patients are enrolled in the program for an average of 30 days. Johnston County's program has a 90% success rate in preventing readmissions for high-risk patients. Initially, the program was supported by a Duke Endowment Grant. Since the grant funding has expired, the county and the local hospital system provide funding to support the program.