About

Tiffany Abramson, MD, is an Associate Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California and a member of the EMS division. She is board certified in Emergency Medicine and Emergency Medical Services. Following her undergraduate studies at Harvard University, she obtained her medical degree at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. She completed her emergency medicine training at LAC+USC, serving as chief resident, and subsequently completed the ACGME-accredited EMS fellowship. Her prehospital experiences have contributed to her research interests, which include resource utilization, healthcare disparities, and mobile integrated health. Dr. Abramson is actively involved in event medicine, serving on medical committees for events such as the Special Olympic World Games, the Los Angeles Marathon, and the Pasadena Half Marathon. In addition to her clinical roles, she has authored multiple book chapters and peer-reviewed publications in emergency medicine.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Anesthesia
• Emergency medicine
• Internal medicine
• Gerontology
• Nursing
• Environmental health
• Psychiatry
• Cardiology
• Surgery
• Family medicine
• Medical emergency
• Intensive care medicine
• Demography

Selected publications

• Hurting for Options: Emergency Department Utilization for Chronic Pain in a Safety‐Net Hospital

  Academic Emergency Medicine · 2025-08-22

  article

  BACKGROUND: Patients with chronic pain frequently visit the emergency department (ED) due to accessibility of care, but the impact is underestimated. This study examines the prevalence and characteristics of patients who visited the ED for chronic pain at an urban safety-net hospital. METHODS: A systematic sampling strategy was used to survey adult ED patients between June and August 2024. We categorized participants who visited the ED as having (1) chronic pain, (2) acute pain, or (3) nonpain conditions. The study collected data on self-reported demographics and health access information, and hospital records on ED wait time, length of stay, insurance, and arrival time. Chi-square tests and regression models compared differences across groups. RESULTS: Of the 602 participants (64% Medicaid, 78% Hispanic/Latino), 18% visited the ED for chronic pain. This group of participants was more likely to report worse health status, visiting the ED as a usual place for care, despite being more likely to have seen a health care provider within a week before their ED visit. Furthermore, they had a longer ED length of stay and were more likely to arrive after business hours (4:30 pm) and perceive their ED visit as an emergency compared to those who visited the ED for acute pain and nonpain conditions. There is no difference in ED workup, specialty service involvement, and consultation. DISCUSSION: Chronic pain is highly prevalent in a safety-net ED patient population. Patients with chronic pain present to the ED because they feel the condition is emergent. The lack of different ED treatment strategies highlights that perhaps ED providers have a general approach to painful conditions regardless of chronicity. Health systems need to better assess the burden of chronic pain in the ED and develop programs to help manage such patients in an effective and efficient manner.

  PublisherDOI

• Impact of an eCPR Pilot Program on Outcomes After Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest for Patients Who Do Not Receive eCPR in a Large, Urban EMS System

  Prehospital Emergency Care · 2025-11-24

  article

  OBJECTIVES: Los Angeles County initiated an extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (eCPR) program to transport patients with refractory shockable out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) to dedicated eCPR-capable centers (ECCs). The impact of an eCPR program on patients with OHCA who do not receive eCPR has not been described. METHODS: We measured the association between EMS unit participation in the program and survival-to-hospital discharge for patients with OHCA who did not receive eCPR, treated between July 2019 and September 2023. Six of the 29 EMS agencies participated in the program, which included eCPR protocol development, hands-on scenario-based training on the eCPR protocol and application of the mechanical compression device (MCD) on a manikin, and provision of MCDs. Because the deployment model for one agency differed from others (MCDs on supervisor units, no paramedic hands-on training), we prespecified a subgroup analysis excluding that agency. RESULTS: We analyzed 30,855 patients with EMS-treated OHCA: 7% had a shockable rhythm, 32% were treated by a pilot unit pre-implementation, 24% by a pilot unit post-implementation, and 44% were treated by a unit that never participated in the eCPR pilot. Treatment by a pilot unit post-implementation was not associated with a significant difference in the odds of survival-to-discharge compared to pre-implementation (1.14 95%CI 0.99-1.34) in the primary analysis but was associated with it in the subgroup analysis (1.61 95%CI 1.37-1.95). Similar results were found for neurologic outcome at discharge. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of an eCPR program is not associated with worse outcomes for patients with OHCA who did not receive eCPR and may be associated with benefit depending on implementation.

  PublisherDOI

• 375 EMS Through Their Eyes: A Thematic Analysis of Experiences of Persons Experiencing Homelessness

  Annals of Emergency Medicine · 2025-08-22

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Evaluation of housing status within an EMS-led leave-behind naloxone program: A retrospective analysis

  The American Journal of Emergency Medicine · 2025-04-09

  letterSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• 454 Housing Status Data in EMS Patients: Accuracy of Emergency Department Electronic Medical Records and Self-Report

  Annals of Emergency Medicine · 2025-08-22

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• 450 Characteristics of Civil Monetary Penalties Resulting From Violations of EMTALA Involving EMS

  Annals of Emergency Medicine · 2025-08-22

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Implementation of a regional extracorporeal membrane oxygenation program for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: results of the prospective observational study

  Resuscitation Plus · 2025-11-25

  articleOpen access

  Background: We implemented a multi-centre extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (eCPR) program in a regional emergency medical services (EMS) system and assessed the time-to-cannulation, survival, and neurologic outcomes for patients routed by EMS to eCPR-capable centres. Methods: This was an observational study of patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) transported to eCPR-capable centres from July 2020 to September 2024. Patients were routed to an eCPR-capable centre if all applied: age 15-75, refractory/recurrent shockable arrest, a mechanical compression device (MCD) applied, and treatment by a participating EMS unit. Additional patients were routed on clinician judgment. Patients with traumatic arrest, do-not-resuscitate order, known terminal illness, baseline severe neurologic deficit, pregnancy, MCD contraindications, or estimated >30-min transport to an eCPR-capable centre were not routed. The outcomes were survival to hospital discharge (SHD) and neurologic status at discharge. We conducted a logistic regression with inverse-probability weighting to evaluate the association between eCPR and patient outcomes. Results: There were 233 patients routed for eCPR. Median age was 58 years (IQR 48-65), 51 (22 %) were female. Fifty-eight (27 %) were cannulated for eCPR; median time from arrest to cannulation was 66 min (IQR 58-78). Both for all routed patients and among those cannulated, SHD was 27 % and SHD with cerebral performance category (CPC) 1 or 2 was 21 %. In the regression analysis, eCPR was not associated with improved outcomes. Conclusion: In this regional eCPR program, survival among patients refractory to conventional therapy and treated with eCPR was 27%.

  PublisherDOI

• 449 Civil Monetary Penalties from EMTALA Violations Where EMS Responded to Patients Outside an Emergency Department

  Annals of Emergency Medicine · 2025-08-22

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Parental Leave and Lactation Policy for EMS Clinicians – A Position Statement and Resource Document of NAEMSP

  Prehospital Emergency Care · 2025-07-24

  article

  The National Association of EMS Physicians (NAEMSP) and the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) believe in an evidence-based and pragmatic approach to promoting a healthy emergency medical services (EMS) workforce and work environment. All EMS clinicians have the right to grow and care for families, should they choose.

  PublisherDOI

• 248 At Risk and Ready: Emergency Department Patient Interest and Concerns Around Medication for Alcohol Use Disorder

  Annals of Emergency Medicine · 2025-08-22

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Marianne Gausche‐Hill

  Los Angeles County Department of Health Services

  29 shared

• Stephen Sanko

  University of Southern California

  28 shared

• Nichole Bosson

  Harbor–UCLA Medical Center

  25 shared

• Marc Eckstein

  14 shared

• Denise Whitfield

  Los Angeles County Department of Health Services

  10 shared

• James T. Niemann

  UCLA Medical Center

  10 shared

• J. Lombardi

  NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital

  10 shared

• M. Eckstein

  10 shared