Richard Ellis

Richard Ellis has 31 years in the Fire/EMS service as a firefighter/paramedic and is currently the Division Chief of Medical Services for Palm Beach County Fire Rescue. Chief Ellis oversees the EMS and Mobile Integrated Health sections of PBCFR which has over 120,000 EMS calls per year. Palm Beach County Fire Rescue has been involved in MIH type programs since 2004 when Chief Ellis started a volunteer based team that responded to the needs of frequent callers as well as provided grief and emotional support to families that had suffered a loss. The program has since grown to have one full time and a part time Licensed Clinical Social Worker, a Community Paramedic Coordinator, and several part time paramedics. The PBCFR MIH Team has a High Frequency Utilizer program, an Addiction Protocol, a Fall Prevention Program, and a paramedic referral program. The program has adopted the Triple Aim of; improve the patient experience, improve the health of the community, and lower overall health care costs.