Dr. Jeffrey Jarvis began his career of saving people as a volunteer firefighter in rural East Texas. Now he’s bringing his medical experience to North Texas and MedStar.
Come mid-November, MedStar Mobile Healthcare will welcome Jarvis to the region as its new EMS System Medical Director and Chief Medical Officer.
“I’ve always loved the Fort Worth area,” said Jarvis, who grew up in East Texas and spent much of his career working in Central Texas. “The culture and people here have always felt like the best of Texas to me. I can’t think of a community that better epitomizes modern Texas than the community MedStar serves.
“I’m looking forward to spreading the word with the rest of the nation about how the Fort Worth region’s EMS system is transforming to meet the rapidly changing needs of patients, communities, and the EMS profession.”
Jarvis, who will start work on Nov. 14, comes to MedStar following an extensive national search. His career includes serving as EMS medical director for Williamson County, where he implemented numerous innovative programs; medical director for Marble Falls Area EMS; chief medical officer for FlightbridgeED; and associate medical director for the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians.
Jarvis has also served as both the Texas State EMS training coordinator and the founding department chair of the EMS Professions program at Temple College. He is on the board of directors for the National EMS Quality Alliance and is chair of the EMS Committee of the American College of Emergency Physicians. He has also worked in three states as a paramedic and maintains his active paramedic license today.
He holds dual board certification in both emergency medicine and emergency medical services.
A proponent of evidenced-based medicine, Jarvis said the opportunity to work with a team that is equally focused on evidence and data-driven practice was too attractive to pass up.
“Much like the larger health care sector, EMS is changing rapidly from a transportation-centered delivery model to an out-of-hospital mobile medical practice,” he said. “MedStar is at the forefront of this transformation and I am absolutely thrilled at the opportunity to work with their team to continue to find innovative solutions to emerging problems.”
Jarvis joins the popular and highly praised MedStar team that specializes in helping make the community safer and healthier in many ways, including mobile health care programs, chest compression training, citizen’s academy, readmission avoidance, hospice revocation avoidance, home health partnership and more.
The High Utilizer Group (HUG) program is for patients who call 9-1-1 15 or more times in 90 days, or who are referred into the program by an emergency department or payer case manager due to high emergency utilization. The American Journal of Emergency Medicine published a study about MedStar’s mobile integrated health program.
Due to this year’s record-breaking summer heat, MedStar saw a significant uptick in heat responses from 2021. Statistics from May 1 through Sept. 21 in both years include:
Overall responses – 486 in 2021, 803 in 2022, up 65.2%.
Transports – 346 in 2021, 547 in 2022, up 58.1%.
Serious cases – 80 in 2021, 144 in 2022, up 80%.
Critical cases – 31 in 2021, 33 in 2022, up 6.5%.
Also notable:
33% of the patients were outside on a public roadway/street.
21% of the patients were in public, or commercial establishments.
21% of the patients were in a private residence.
7% of the patients were in public parks/recreation areas.
65% of the patients were male, 35% female.