Becoming an EMT in Nebraska
The State of Nebraska issues licenses to Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel through the Department of Health and Human Services. All levels of Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) are classified as Out-Of-Hospital Emergency Care Providers and Nebraska will not charge any fee for any initial EMS license. Nebraska EMT training stands out from other states because they offer tuition reimbursement for help with any level of EMT training.
Nebraska currently recognizes five levels of EMT licenses in the state, but only issues licenses for four levels of certification. The 4 licensing levels are Emergency Medical Responders, Emergency Medical Technicians, Advanced Emergency Medical Technicians, and Paramedics.
They no longer certify EMT-Intermediates (EMT-I) in Nebraska, but they still recognize EMT-I as a valid EMS level.
Nebraska EMS Levels
Emergency Medical Responder (EMR)
Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)
EMT Intermediate (EMT-I) Renew and Reinstate only
Advanced Emergency Medical Technician (AEMT)
Paramedic (EMTP)
NEMSA
Anyone interested in becoming an EMT in Nebraska should consider joining the Nebraska Emergency Medical Services Association at http://www.nemsa.org.
There are many benefits of membership if you have a passion for EMS, including the opportunity to apply for an EMT school scholarship in Nebraska.
NEMSA is a group whose interest is in providing for the citizens of Nebraska only, which makes it a unique opportunity for EMTs in Nebraska. Also, student membership is free for anyone going through school to become an emergency medical provider.
EMT Tuition Reimbursement
A great thing about training as an EMT in Nebraska is that they offer the unique opportunity for EMS Tuition Reimbursement. This is because Unicameral, the Nebraska Legislature Body, sets aside money for EMS education reimbursement.
How do you get tuition reimbursement?
Nebraska EMT candidates must check their eligibility and then apply for tuition reimbursement. Tuition reimbursement is available for both Initial EMT Applicants and Reinstatement Requests, but I will only discuss new (Initial) EMT applicants here.
Eligibility
To be eligible, Nebraska EMT applicants must have an active (not temporary) Nebraska EMS license and be a member of a licensed EMS service that is located in Nebraska.
This means you need to be working or volunteering with a Nebraska licensed and located EMS company. Also, make sure you are requesting reimbursement at the same level that you are licensed.
How to Apply
Time is an important factor when applying for EMT tuition reimbursement in Nebraska. One reason is Nebraska has a limited number of funds and pays requests on a first come, first serve basis.
The second reason is that payment amount is tiered, based on the amount of days between when the application packet is received and when the EMT course was completed. (See Table Below)
For these reasons I strongly urge you to send in your application for reimbursement within 7 days of completing your Nebraska EMT training program. This will increase the likelihood you will be awarded the highest dollar amount allowed for reimbursement.
If you are reading this and already went to school 5-6 months ago but never applied for reimbursement, it might not be too late. However, you won’t be eligible to receive as much funding.
In order to officially request tuition reimbursement, Nebraska EMT candidates must fill out the Office of Emergency Health Systems Licensure Initial Education Course/ Reinstatement Refresher Reimbursement Form.
The form can not be mailed or faxed, it must be sent by email along with any supporting documentation to:
dhhs.sp.EHSContinuingED@nebraska.gov
Examples of supporting documents you ma