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EMS issues in Pennsylvania largely persist as 2025 begins

Andrew Bokulich, right, helps Mike Crawford set up a demonstration on how to use a video laryngoscopy at Quality EMS in Adams Township on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

Emergency medical service departments are facing a crisis.

For more than a year, EMS departments in all corners of Pennsylvania have sounded the alarm to state and local officials about systemic issues that threaten their existence — including staffing shortages, inflation and stagnant reimbursements from insurance.

“There is definitely a crisis in EMS, in not only the Commonwealth, but the nation,” said Steve Bicehouse, emergency services director for Butler County.

As of September, there are 1,205 EMS agencies across the state, according to the state Department of Health. That number used to be higher.

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