Make your local EMS system as effective and proficient as possible. To serve the public and support first responders, pre-hospital care must be skillfully coordinated and provisioned. The comprehensive 2021 edition of NFPA 450, Guide for Emergency Medical Services and Systems, provides the guidelines, resources, and recommendations you need to comprehensively develop and design your EMS system.

This document can be used as a template when developing an EMS system, as well as during the evaluation of measurable outcomes. It provides a framework for evaluating systems and making improvements to create the best possible EMS procedures.

NFPA 450 reflects the rapidly changing health care environment and the importance of effective EMS services. With the recent changes to the Affordable Care Act and an increasing need to collect and report data, NFPA 450 puts greater emphasis on the current demands facing health care and EMS responders.

Significant changes and additions to the 2021 edition of NFPA 450 include the following:

• Alignment with the newly published NFPA 451, Guide for Community Health Care Programs
• Further focus on EMS and 9-1-1 systems and less focus on community/mobile health care (now covered by NFPA 451)
• Clarification of medical control structures and requirements
• Updates regarding new EMS technologies and data reporting initiatives
• A new chapter on training for new EMS responders and licensed EMS providers

NFPA 450 correlates with other federal EMS documents and is consistent with commonly used terminology in the EMS community. Everyone working on EMS systems, from local stakeholders to owners and staff of organizations, should use the latest edition.