TPF initiative · Administered by The Paramedic Foundation · Founded 2005
International Roundtable on Community Paramedicine (IRCP)
The IRCP is an international forum that has met every year since 2005. It works to advance community paramedicine, mobile integrated health (MIH) and Second Generation Paramedic (G2P) practice. The Paramedic Foundation (TPF) administers it; TPF’s principals co-founded it in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Each year it brings paramedics, other health professionals, researchers and policymakers together. They share evidence, build programs and shape the future of paramedicine. More than twenty countries have taken part.
2026 forum
22nd Forum: Regensburg, Germany, October 5–7, 2026
The 22nd Forum of the IRCP was held in Regensburg, Germany. The Bavarian Red Cross hosted it. Its theme was Building a Shared Vision for Community Paramedicine: Evidence, Innovation, and Collaboration. The theme reflected years of global research. It also reflected the Bavarian Red Cross’s work to build a community paramedic program grounded in academic study and research.
At the forum, ideas turn into action. Attendees take on joint research and publications, and they draft recommendations for running programs. They explore changes to education and curricula. They also look at how the rules for paramedic practice are changing around the world.
Advancing novel healthcare delivery through international exchange
The IRCP promotes the sharing of information and experience across countries. The focus is flexible and reliable health care delivered through new models of care. The IRCP is a resource for policymakers, system managers, paramedics and other health professionals. All of them work to meet patient needs where the usual care is missing or falls short.
VisionSystems designed for where care is hardest to deliver
The IRCP supports discussions, meetings and research on designing systems that keep meeting patients’ needs. Its focus is places where health services are scarce and care is getting harder to provide. The idea of the Second Generation Paramedic is central to this vision.
Second Generation Paramedic — G2PA framework for expanded-scope practice
The G2P framework describes paramedics working in expanded roles. They use their training and skills in new, community-based settings, outside the emergency response and transport model. G2Ps provide services through distinct models of care and enhanced protocols. They work in a connected, shared network with other health care providers.
The G2P concept grew out of the IRCP’s early work. It has shaped community paramedicine laws, scope-of-practice frameworks and education curricula in participating countries.
Community paramedicine resources at CommunityParamedic.org →Forum history
The IRCP has met every year since its founding in 2005. Its forums have gone from Halifax to London to Vancouver to Regensburg. Each has produced joint research, recommendations for running programs and practice frameworks shared across countries. That work has directly influenced community paramedicine policy in participating countries. The 2026 meeting in Regensburg was the 22nd.
IRCP 2026 — Regensburg
22nd Forum — October 5–7, 2026
Marinaforum, Regensburg, Germany
Hosted by the Bavarian Red Cross
With thanks to the Bavarian Red Cross and Regensburg
The Paramedic Foundation thanks the Bavarian Red Cross for hosting the 22nd Forum. Its people welcomed delegates from around the world with warmth, care and generous hospitality. TPF also thanks the city of Regensburg, whose history reaches back to the Roman camp of Castra Regina. Its streets and its people made a fine home for the meeting.
Resources and publications
The IRCP knowledge base is hosted at ircp.info. It includes curriculum resources, research publications and forum proceedings. Community paramedicine curriculum resources are available at communityparamedic.org, a TPF-produced platform.
Definitions
Community Paramedicine: A model of care in which paramedics use their training and skills in new, community-based settings. This care takes place outside the emergency response and transport model.
Mobile Integrated Health (MIH): A broader framework. It includes community paramedicine, treatment in place and alternative destination programs within a connected health system.
Remote: Largely unpopulated areas where services do not exist or are very limited. This is the hardest setting for the G2P model.
International Rural & Remote Prehospital Collaborative (iR2PC)
The iR2PC is a related TPF initiative convened by Gary Wingrove. It focuses on prehospital care in rural, remote and austere places. The IRCP centers on community paramedicine. The iR2PC takes on the field, clinical and governance problems specific to frontier and wilderness settings. TPF team member Dr. Timothy Peterson attended the first iR2PC meeting in Whitehorse in 2014.
History
Founded 2005, Halifax, Nova Scotia
In July 2005, nearly 50 delegates from Australia, Canada, Scotland and the United States gathered at Dalhousie University in Halifax. Until then, each group had worked on the same problem largely on its own. The problem was how to bring rural emergency medical services (EMS) providers into rural health care in communities where other options were running out. The hosts were Ron Stewart, MD, founder of the National Association of EMS Physicians, and the Emergency Health Services Division of the Nova Scotia Department of Health.
The meeting had a specific background. Between 2003 and 2004, three U.S. groups led a national consensus process. They were the National Rural Health Association, the National Association of State EMS Officials and the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health. The result was the Rural and Frontier EMS Agenda for the Future. Its first chapter, on integration of health services, recommended bringing EMS into the wider rural health care system. Nova Scotia, Australia and Scotland had already begun doing just that, each on its own and at the same time.
The delegates in Halifax found something striking. The rural health problems in all four places were very much alike, and local solutions were arriving at the same model. In every case, community paramedicine programs had grown out of public pressure or a sudden change in the health care workforce. None came from top-down planning. And in every case, EMS was left out of primary care until most other options were used up.
That founding meeting set the IRCP’s lasting character. It is an exchange led by the people who do the work, guided by evidence and shared across countries. It is a forum, with no membership. Ideas that work in one place can be examined, challenged and adapted there by people doing the same work in twenty other places. The Paramedic Foundation, co-founded by IRCP founding chair Gary Wingrove, has served as the administrative home for the IRCP.
Leadership & administration
Administered by TPF, led by the people who do the work
The IRCP is an initiative administered by The Paramedic Foundation. It is not a separate organization. It has no institutional members, and it does not issue credentials or accreditation. TPF keeps the forum going from year to year, organizes each meeting and supports publishing for the forum and its research. Day-to-day direction comes from a chair and an advisory board drawn from the international community paramedicine field.
Gary Wingrove, IRCP Chair
Gary Wingrove co-convened the founding IRCP meeting in Halifax in 2005. He has chaired the IRCP ever since. Under his leadership, the forum grew from a four-country meeting of 50 delegates into a globally recognized annual event. More than twenty countries have taken part. Its research has directly shaped community paramedicine laws and scope-of-practice frameworks worldwide. At the 21st Forum in 2025, Gary was recognized for two decades as the IRCP’s chair. He remains President of the TPF Board of Directors. He also continues to convene the G5 Meeting and the International Rural & Remote Prehospital Collaborative (iR2PC).
Scott Willits, MPH, CPC — IRCP Chair
Scott Willits now chairs the IRCP. He has taken part in the IRCP for many years. He is a founding board member of the National Association of Mobile Integrated Healthcare Providers. He is also a recognized expert in regulatory innovation, value-based EMS models and bringing paramedicine into wider systems of care. He serves as Director of Product and Strategic Partnerships at a health technology company leading strategy and regulatory engagement for EMS and mobile care providers across North America. Scott also serves on the TPF team as a consultant subject matter expert in MIH and alternative response.
Meet the TPF team →IRCP and The Paramedic Foundation
The IRCP is an initiative of The Paramedic Foundation (EIN 46-3271401), a Minnesota nonprofit corporation and a tax-exempt charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code
Convened annually since 2005 — 22 forums through 2026
No institutional membership or dues structure
An advisory board and rotating chair provide direction
Knowledge resources at ircp.info
Curriculum resources at communityparamedic.org
IRCP 2026 — Regensburg
22nd Forum
October 5–7, 2026
Marinaforum, Regensburg, Germany
Hosted by the Bavarian Red Cross
Theme: Building a Shared Vision for Community Paramedicine
Patrons & partners
The organizations that sustain the IRCP
IRCP Patrons
Global Partners
- The Paramedic Foundation — administering organization
- The Paramedic Network
Common questions
About the IRCP
What is the International Roundtable on Community Paramedicine?
The International Roundtable on Community Paramedicine (IRCP) is a yearly international meeting. It brings together paramedic system leaders, researchers, policymakers and frontline health professionals from around the world. They meet to move community paramedicine and Second Generation Paramedic practice forward. The IRCP was founded in 2005 and is administered by The Paramedic Foundation. It has met in Canada, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom and Germany. IRCP meeting presentations from 2010 and 2012 to 2014, rebuilt from archived slides, are free at paramedicfoundation.org/resources/document-library.
Where was the 2026 IRCP meeting held?
The 2026 International Roundtable on Community Paramedicine was held in Regensburg, Germany. The IRCP meets every year. It has met in Canada, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom and, in 2026, Germany. Contact info@paramedicfoundation.org for information about the IRCP.
What is Second Generation Paramedic practice?
Second Generation Paramedic (G2P) practice is the wider scope of care that paramedics give beyond the traditional emergency response and transport model. It includes community paramedicine, mobile integrated health, treatment in place and transport to an alternate destination. It also covers paramedicine in austere and remote places. And it covers paramedic practice where the usual health care facilities do not exist. The G2P framework was developed through the IRCP. It reflects an international consensus that the paramedic profession has outgrown the narrow definitions of the 1966 emergency transport model.
Who runs the IRCP and how is it affiliated with The Paramedic Foundation?
The Paramedic Foundation (EIN 46-3271401, Duluth, MN) administers the International Roundtable on Community Paramedicine. Gary Wingrove, TPF's Founding Board Member and President, co-founded the IRCP and chairs it. Scott Willits, a TPF consultant and subject matter expert, chairs the IRCP. The IRCP does not have a membership structure. It is an international working meeting open to invited participants. IRCP meeting presentations from 2010 and 2012 to 2014 are preserved and free to view at paramedicfoundation.org/resources/document-library.
The IRCP Forum in Regensburg
The 22nd Forum of the IRCP brought the global community paramedicine field together on October 5–7, 2026.