Salary and Benefits Considerations for Emergency Medical Services Professionals

Revised September 2025
Originally approved April 2019

The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) affirms that emergency medical services (EMS) systems provide essential healthcare elements for the health and wellbeing of patients and communities. Federal and state legislatures should consider EMS professionals as essential. Given the important responsibilities and roles fulfilled by EMS professionals, these healthcare workers should be fairly compensated with salary and benefits commensurate with such responsibilities and roles which should take into account salient variables such as:

• Educational achievements
• Length of professional certifications/licensures and highest level of complexity of procedural ability
• Experience
• Length of employment
• Rank, roles, and responsibilities
• Duty hours and schedules
• Risk of injury and death