Held from April 22-25, Wave 2025 covered a variety of impressive topics throughout the week. Here are the five themes that were at the forefront of discussions in fire and EMS:

1. Artificial Intelligence   

Front and center on the world stage, AI is an incredible new technology that we’re only skimming the surface of what it can bring to the industry. Despite the fact that we need to proceed cautiously and responsibly, we’re excited to see how its role will continue to evolve in the years to come.  

At Wave, the air was abuzz with talks surrounding AI. Chief Innovation Officer of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Todd Ponsky, used his session Global Education Moonshot: Using AI and Media to Transform Medical Knowledge Access to shed light on the new technology’s role in fighting global disparities in patient care.  

Cincinnati Fire Department’s program manager, Robert Hug then shared how his department is transforming their documentation and analyses of their data through the integration of AI into Snowflake in Beyond ChatGPT: Unlocking the Power of AI in Snowflake.  

Finally, we learned how ESO will be tackling AI from ESO Senior VP of Engineering Russell Beggs, Senior VP of Product Reinhard Ekl, and Chief Innovation Officer Brandon Martinez in their session Artificial Intelligence in ESO Products: Efficiency Gains You Can Trust. They discussed the responsible approach ESO is using to harness the new technology to improve the efficiency and accuracy of documentation through our new auto-generated narrative feature. 

2. Mobile Integrated Healthcare 

EMS is on the front lines of providing medical care for their communities, treating the most vulnerable of society, oftentimes on a repeated basis. More than ever before, data and strategic partnerships are being used as tools for empowering first responders to get to the root of patients’ issues through Mobile Integrated Healthcare/Community Paramedicine programs. These programs can be incredibly impactful for both the agencies and the patients they treat.  

Kicking off the discussion, Associate Chief Medical Officer of Global Medical Response, Gerad Troutman, explored the power of these alternate care models in redirecting non-life-threatening cases away from the ER while providing proactive care for repeat callers in his talk From Sirens to Solutions: How EMS Data is Driving Smarter Healthcare, 

Then, in Unifying Community Paramedicine (CP) and Mobile Integrated Health (MIH) Data: A NEMSIS Initiative, NEMSIS Technical Assistance Center Program Director Kevin Nicholes discussed how impactful data unification can be for MIH/CP programs in improving everything from patient outcomes to billing practices.  

Continuing to drill down into the importance of partnerships to MIH/CP programs, we learned how agencies across the city of Tulsa combined forces to leverage their different strengths and skills in order to get to the root of their patients’ problems thanks to Aligning Community Data for the Common Good by Tulsa Fire Department Chief of EMS, Justin Lemery.  

Finally, even though MIH/CP is an impactful tool for providing care for your community, you need the right funding to make it happen. Asbel Montes from Solutions Group Services gave us the rundown on what not to do when seeking a bigger budget in his talk, The Top 5 Costly Mistakes to Avoid When Seeking Additional Funding for MIH/CP. Then EMS/MIH Consultant Matt Zavadsky of PWW Advisory Group dove into the importance of using data to prove the value of the services you provide in From Data to Impact: Demonstrating Your Agency’s Value to the Community.  

3. Data-driven innovations 

Every day, organizations use ESO data to do incredible things, but without the framework to define, measure, and reduce errors in data, you can’t pull quality insights from the information gleaned. This was emphasized in Reducing Errors, What Percentage of Plane Crashes Would Be Okay?, where Cox Health EMS Medical Director Matthew Brandt shared strategies for using data to improve care, foster accountability, and ensure adaptation, along with in Be Curious not Furious: A Data-Driven Approach to Change by TowerDIRECT Paramedic Jason Drinkwater, where we learned how to measure what matters.  

Then, in Conducting Qualitative Research with Your Team: A Crash Course of Meaningful Outcomes, Fire Chief Dr. Brett Ellis from the City of Webster Grove took it a step further, teaching us it’s not just data quality that needs to be considered but who’s benefiting from the data that it pays to use qualitative research that reflects the personalities and passions of your team.  

We also learned that although data and technological advancements are doing incredible things for first response, organizations need to decide what’s best for them. In Assessing Your Technology Needs: A Practical Roadmap for Smarter Solutions, a session by Principle of Acceleration Strategies, Robert Edson, gave insights into how to determine which innovative tools are necessary for your organization without overspending or underutilizing resources. 

We also drilled down into what we should be measuring as an industry. Recently, data has shown that response times aren’t a reliable indicator for measuring outcomes, as they rarely reflect the quality of care provided. Chief Medical Officer of the Forth Worth Office of the Medical Director, Jeffrey Jarvis, is well versed on the topic and used his talk, Improving Clinical Care Using National EMS Quality Alliance (NEMSQA) Benchmarks, to share what your organization should be measuring instead. 

Using EMS Data to Drive Safety: Resources, Lights, and Sirens by UNC Department of Emergency Medicine’s EMS Chief Medical Officer Joseph Grover and Beyond Response Time Standards, the Evolution of Contract Compliance by Global Medical Response Clinical Quality Managers Brad Cramer and Jake Shores, both also dove into response but focused more on best practices for minimizing lights and sirens usage without sacrificing standard of care.  

We also learned how data is helping us build a better offense in our efforts to keep our communities safe. In Why Risk Reduction Planning Zones are Essential, AP Triton Senior Associate Frank Blackley discussed how the right insights can help agencies more effectively visualize and reduce risks. In the FSRI Fire Dynamics Research Update, UL-FSRI Director of Research Craig Weinschenk gave us the latest learnings related to WUI fires, electrical fires, and search and rescue. 

Cary Fire Department’s Fire and Emergency Services Analyst Blake Boyd raised another good point regarding measuring outcomes in Outliers: An Inclusive Conversation. He led a discussion on how traditional data analysis methods hinder fire departments’ ability to identify and manage outliers and what best practices could be taken instead.  

There are many uses for data. It doesn’t just push us towards better patient outcomes or help us get paid, as discussed by Systems Design West Education Direction Alissa Christenbury in Data-driven insights: improving ambulance billing through documentation analysis, but it is also a tool for keeping our teams safe. In The Power of Reporting: Using Data to Foster Trust and Prevent Violence, Commander Mandy Johnston of Peel Regional Paramedic Services spoke to the violence paramedics face on the job, along with the role data reporting can play in supporting prevention efforts. Then, in PPE Exposure to Energy Storage Fires, Texas A&M Division Director Chris Angerer discussed the data-driven best practices for protecting your department from the devastating impacts of exposure.  

SCEMSA Executive Director Henry Lewis really hit home the importance of data and how, when we work together in a unified front to utilize our collective insights and talents, we can do incredible things. His talk Leveraging Data for EMS Funding: the SCEMSA Story shared how the South Carolina EMS Association has overcome both a hiring and funding deficit by doing just that. 

This leads us to create the right culture around your data – from using insights to transform your leadership, as discussed by Dare County EMS Deputy Chief Terence Sheehy in Transformative Leadership: Don’t Give Up the Ships, to the importance of promoting the creation and use of data at your own organization as touted by the President/CEO of International Public Safety Data Institute, John Oates, in his talk What is Your Data Culture?, we were taught a lot about making your agency a hub for fostering excellence and growth.  

4. Prehospital and hospital interoperability  

Day in and day out, EMS providers make critical decisions with lives weighing in the balance. Today, data and technology are instrumental in closing the feedback loop and ensuring they have the necessary information to make the right call the moment they need it.  

In ESO Health Data Exchange (HDE): The Bridge to Better Patient Outcomes, VHC Health EMS Liaison Justin Nelson discussed how his team used ESO HDE to better facilitate communication with their partners, increasing feedback loop closures from 11% to 94% and increasing overall EMS transports by 7%, which ultimately transformed both the quality and quantity of the care they were able to provide.  

In Precision Under Pressure: How Technology Is Transforming Prehospital Dosing and Clinical Support, Hinkley Medical CEO Tristen Hazlett and Physician Abraham Campos gave us a run down on how powerful data-driven decision-making can be in shaping the future of prehospital care while Gaining “Insight” into Patient Acuity: Enhancing Response Plans by Linking Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) Codes to Patient Care Interventions by Wake County EMS Deputy Medical Director Jefferson Williams explained how insights can improve patient-based response planning and prioritization today. 

As the role of fire and EMS continues to rapidly change beyond first response, data is helping them to become a bigger part of the patient care continuum than ever before. In The Evolving Role of Fire and EMS in Healthcare, Axene Continuing Education CEO & Founder Eric Axene, MD, FACEP, discussed how data-driven partnerships are transforming the relationship between prehospital and hospital care.  

The more we understand the entire continuum of care, the clearer we can see EMS’s full range of capabilities for treating patients and the impact they make. In To Transfuse or Not to Transfuse: Using ESO Data to Evaluate the Utility of Implementing a Prehospital Blood Product Program, Medical Director of Cincinnati Fire Department, Dustin Calhoun, dove into the current state of prehospital 911 blood product administration and our learnings thus far.  

5. NERIS 

The nervous excitement around NERIS was palpable at Wave, and crowds were out the door for sessions surrounding the new system. UL-FSRI Director of Research Craig Weinschenk led a session called National Emergency Response Information System (NERIS): Changing the Future of Fire Departments, where he gave a highly anticipated update on what’s currently happening with the project and how NERIS is set to transform the industry.  

In NERIS is Near Us, ESO product experts Jennifer Billingsley and Katie Heins gave a demo on the brand new NERIS-compliant Fire Incidents and answered a wide range of questions regarding the new response system. If you missed it, have no fear. You can check out our NERIS FAQs here, and if you don’t find an answer to your questions, submit them here, and we’ll be happy to assist you.  

Stay ahead of what’s trending in the industry. 

Our data experts at ESO compiled a few resources to help you keep up with a shifting industry while using aggregated data to ensure your organization stays at the top of its game. Check out the 2025 ESO EMS and Fire Services Indices to see where your organization stands against national benchmarks in important metrics. Pulling from the ESO Data Collective, the Indices help your team see where you’re on top of your game and areas that are ripe for improvement, along with sharing best practices that promote growth. 

Read the 2025 ESO Fire Service Index

Read the 2025 ESO EMS Index

It’s not too early to start thinking about Wave 2026! 

Mark your calendars for April 7-10, 2026, to join us in Austin, TX, for four days of thought leadership, networking, and learning. If you’re interested in being the first to get the inside scoop on what data-driven advancements and technologies are trending industry-wide, mark your calendars and stay tuned to register.  

The post Wave 2025 Recap: Top 5 Topics in EMS and Fire   appeared first on ESO.

However, advances in data exchange are helping hospitals bridge the gap. By connecting systems and sharing information in real time, hospitals can improve the accuracy of their records, simplify compliance processes, and prioritize better patient outcomes. 

Meet and Exceed Compliance Standards

From the first EMS patient contact, maintaining accurate, up-to-date patient records is vital for audits, quality improvement initiatives, and reporting – all of which help hospitals maintain compliance with key healthcare regulations. A modern electronic patient care report (ePCR), like an ESO Electronic Health Record (EHR), ensures that hospitals can easily capture documentation for standards, such as those required by The Joint Commission.

Interoperability solutions like ESO Health Data Exchange (HDE) build on this by securely connecting EMS and hospital systems. ESO HDE allows hospitals to access EMS ePCRs directly within their own workflows, providing the pre-hospital data needed to complete patient records.

For example, a key standard under the “Record of Care, Treatment, and Services” (RC) section mandates that healthcare providers maintain comprehensive and accurate patient care records. By combining ePCR data with hospital documentation through tools like ESO HDE, hospitals can create the detailed records necessary to meet these requirements while reducing the administrative burden on staff.

Simplify Data Collection

Hospitals often face challenges in standardizing how they collect and store patient information. Inconsistent or incomplete records can lead to errors, which makes it harder to meet reporting requirements.

ePCRs help hospitals standardize how they collect and store patient data. By maintaining consistent, accurate records, hospitals are better equipped to meet the demands of regulatory agencies like The Joint Commission and the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS).

True data interoperability can further improve this process by enabling real-time data exchange between EMS and hospitals, ensuring that vital patient information is available without delays or manual input. Uniform data entry minimizes errors, ensuring information integrity critical for audits and quality reporting. Accurate record-keeping supports compliance with value-based care models, reporting initiatives, and audits that influence hospital accreditation and reimbursement. Hospitals should use ePCR systems that are NEMSIS compliant in order to more easily facilitate state data submissions.

Access Data and Reports

Hospitals are challenged to meet the varied – and sometimes duplicate – reporting requirements of different regulatory bodies. But true bidirectional data sharing through platforms such as ESO HDE and ESO EHR reduces the administrative load by producing detailed reports, freeing up healthcare teams to focus on delivering better patient outcomes. 

Many regulatory standards also highlight the need for timely and accurate data, particularly when it impacts patient safety. An ePCR integrated with hospital records provides near real-time access to vital patient information, giving clinicians the data they need for critical decisions. Hospitals should embrace interoperability solutions to avoid system downtime and delays in accessing records. Continuous access to patient data not only supports compliance but can also improve care coordination and outcomes.

Support Quality Improvement

By integrating data from multiple sources, ePCRs offer valuable insights into patient outcomes that can help hospitals meet quality benchmarks and improve care delivery. Hospitals that effectively use their ePCR data are also better positioned to qualify for federal reimbursement programs and incentives.

Strengthen EMS Collaboration with Shared Outcomes

Bidirectional data sharing benefits both hospitals and EMS agencies. Hospitals gain real-time access to EMS ePCRs, ensuring they have the information they need to make timely decisions. In return, EMS providers can view patient outcomes which offers insight into how pre-hospital care impacted results.

This feedback loop improves care coordination, helps EMS refine protocols, and strengthens partnerships between EMS agencies and hospitals.

Take the Next Step: See ESO HDE in Action 

ESO Health Data Exchange (HDE) enables hospitals to share and receive patient data securely and in real time. From integrating pre-hospital records, providing clinical outcomes, or simplifying compliance efforts, ESO HDE connects teams across the care continuum to improve workflows and support better decisions.

Ready to see how ESO HDE can help your hospital? Request a demo and discover the benefits firsthand.

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Does your department stack up? 

The data in the 2024 EMS Index shows that nearly 88% of all patient transfers documented had an offload time of 20 minutes or less, which fell within NFPA guidelines. While most patients experienced a transfer within an acceptable time frame, nearly 10% had to wait up to an hour and 1% even longer. These delays don’t just slow things down; they can affect patient outcomes, satisfaction, and the availability of EMS resources. With potential new CMS policies on the horizon focused on reducing ED wait times, now is the time to understand where your agency stands. 

Why APOT is a game changer for EMS 

Extended offload times have a ripple effect. Ambulances delayed at hospitals mean fewer resources are available for the next emergency call. Addressing APOT is necessary not only for improving patient outcomes but also for maintaining EMS readiness and response management. 

Best practices for improvement

If your agency’s offload times need work, here are a few best practices you can take away to cut down on wall times:  

• Collaborate with hospital partners: Work together to create smoother processes for patient handoffs. For example, scanning driver’s licenses can help EMS teams share patient data with hospitals before arrival, speeding up registration and transfer. 

• Use Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH) programs: These programs provide alternative care options for patients with non-life-threatening cases to avoid unnecessary trips to the ED and keep ambulances available for critical calls. 

• Incorporate telemedicine: Allow paramedics and EMTs to consult with physicians or specialists remotely. This can speed up medical decision-making and provide guidance on care during transport. 

• Implement nurse triage at dispatch: Direct patients to the right care from the start, reducing unnecessary EMS responses and hospital visits. 

See how your agency measures up 

Want to see how you stand against other important national benchmarks or learn new approaches to improving your patient care?  

Find out where your agency stands and discover new strategies for improvement–download the 2024 EMS Index today.  

Your work is demanding enough. Your tools shouldn’t be. 

ESO Electronic Health Record (EHR) makes it easier to document and share data, so you can deliver reliable patient records to your hospital partners in real-time.  

Discover how ESO EHR can help your team work more closely with your hospital partners by registering for a demo today. 

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Discover how Children’s Colorado Hospital spent more time on patient-centered care and less on manual processes by downloading the full case study here.

Interested in seeing how ESO HDE, with the integration of Enterprise Master Patient Index (EMPI) technology, can help streamline your organization’s workflow with more accurate patient matching?

Schedule a demo to find out!

The post Children’s Hospital CO: Improving Care While Saving $40k appeared first on ESO.

While telemedicine previously faced barriers of acceptance from both physicians and patients, the COVID pandemic fast-forwarded the adoption of telehealth practices. In fact, the need for alternative treatment options was so great that the U.S. government temporarily relaxed HIPAA requirements to make telehealth appointments more accessible via existing technologies.

The result was many more providers seeing the value of telehealth options – from virtual follow ups to remote well-checks – to not only reduce the in-person traffic to offices and EDs, but to offer better care to patients previously underserved due to location or other factors that made it hard to schedule an appointment with a provider. Patients similarly have begun to see the benefit of connecting with their providers from the comfort of their own home, realizing that in many situations, care can be just as effective as when sitting in the office.

Two Types of Telehealth Communication

As the telehealth movement continues to gain momentum, two distinct branches of telemedicine are evolving based on the type and timing of communication entailed. The terms “synchronous” and “asynchronous” are commonly tossed about when discussing telehealth options, and while many health care professionals understand the basic definitions of the words, the way they are applied to telemedicine deserve a bit more explanation.

Synchronous Communication: Live and in Real Time

When something is synchronized, of course, it is happening in perfect timing with something else. When it comes to telehealth, synchronous communication means the real-time exchange of data and information, typically via a virtual examination or visit. This can mean a video call, a live phone call between patient and doctor, or even a chat.

The value and purpose of synchronous communication is to deliver or ascertain urgent information to make an immediate decision for care. In an emergency setting, for example, the concept of Mobile Integrated Healthcareis gaining traction, allowing EMS staff to use telehealth technology to connect patients in their home with physicians and specialists. Based on this video or phone conference, a better decision can be made as to if and where the patient needs to be transported, rather than taking all patients to the ED. These options drive down the cost of health care by reducing the number of unneeded transports and ED visits, while also getting the patient more appropriate and timely care.

Additionally, new telehealth-enabled instruments, such as a video otoscope or an electronic stethoscope, make virtual visits even more accurate, as in-home health aides, nurses, technicians, or paramedics can use them to deliver detailed data directly to the physician or specialist on the video call. The digital data can be instantly stored and connected to the patient’s records as well and used to track progress during future visits.

Another form of synchronous communication can be found in modern alerting softwareused by EMS agencies for communication with receiving hospitals. Today’s top alerting software can capture critical patient information at the scene using smartphones and tablets, and securely transmit data, photos, and videos to the ED to alert them of incoming EMS transports. This information helps the ED better prepare for high acuity cases, contact all necessary staff, and activate labs, saving valuable time and facilitating better patient outcomes.

Asynchronous Communication: Without Delay but at Your Convenience

The second element of telemedicine that works closely with the first is asynchronous communication; that is, data transmitted to be reviewed at the convenience of either party. Although this information is typically not of the urgent nature, today’s technology does allow it to be transmitted without delay to a physician or a patient.

The value of asynchronous communication is that it allows providers more opportunity to develop diagnosis or treatment plans when they have more time and the ability to reference resources and research. Asynchronous communication also facilitates communication with specialists who may be working in another facility or even another time zone, without the stress of coordinating schedules.

Similarly, patients can receive instructions and follow up guidelines from providers via email, making it easier to save, print, and reference when needed. This communication can also be shared securely with approved caregivers and also stored in the patient’s digital files to be referenced in the future by other providers as needed.

In the world of prehospital care, asynchronous communication can be a valuable learning tool for EMS agencies. Today’s EMS software tools for bidirectional communication with hospitalsallow EDs to share patient outcomes with EMS agencies, providing real-world examples of what was or was not caught in the field, what worked well, and the final diagnosis. EMS agencies previously had little or no information on a patient’s well-being after drop-off. With closed-loop reporting, agencies can make better treatment decisions for future calls based on what they learn. This is especially helpful in hard-to-diagnosis cases like sepsis.

Working Together for a More Accurate Diagnosis

As telehealth undoubtedly will continue to evolve and find its proper place in the healthcare spectrum, the potential benefits to providers, payers, and patients are numerous. Rather than a blanket approach to every 911 call, telemedicine and its associated technology offers more efficient ways to get the patient the proper treatment, at the proper location, in the proper timeframe. No more waiting for endless hours in over-crowded EDs with overburdened staff. Fewer high-priced ambulance transports when a primary care visit the next day would suffice. And fewer patients suffering from avoidable conditions due to their location or their inability to visit a doctor in person.

The key to telemedicine is the balance between synchronous and asynchronous communication, and how it works together to give providers a rich and complete picture of the patient’s condition. It may become apparent that this approach delivers perhaps an even more accurate depiction of the patient’s health and allows for even better patient care in the decades to come.

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Prehopstial care information is, of course, extremely helpful to ED staff receiving the patient. Knowing exactly what mediation has been administered, patient vitals, and other key data points can improve patient care and reduce the chance of sentinel events. Hospitals can also use data exchange to send back patient information to their EMS partners, allowing these agencies to measure and improve their own performance based on real-world data and outcomes.

Beyond this, however, there are several additional ways that EMS data can benefit emergency departments and entire hospital systems, including:

1. Reducing HIPAA Concerns

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA) Act was created not only to protect patient information, but to also allow information sharing when appropriate, as in the case of direct patient care or quality improvement. In fact, in 2012, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published a letter affirming that hospitals can and should share patient outcomes with EMS. This has been compounded by the more recent need for hospitals and EMS to share COVID-19 data with each other.

With all the unsecure methods of sharing that currently take place – printed records, emails, exchanging passwords, and faxes – setting up a secure, cloud-based, and easy-to-audit method of exchanging hospital and EMS data is an improvement, and something that should appeal to all those tasked with protecting patient information.

2. Supporting Joint Commission Compliance

While hospitals are expected to thoroughly document and update a patient’s record while he or she is in its care, The Joint Commission takes it a step further, highlighting the importance of prehospital care. In fact, standard RC.02.01.01 EP 2 notes that the medical record should contain “any emergency care, treatment, and services provided to the patient before his or her arrival.”

Electronic patient records, shared securely and in real time through a data exchange, help ensure that hospitals remain compliant with this requirement and spend less time tracking down missing paper records, transcribing hard-to-read handwritten notes, or waiting for follow-up faxes and calls.

3. Improving Long-term Patient Care

One of the benefits of hospitals sharing data back with EMS through data exchanges is that the patient outcomes can be used for training and shaping protocols in the prehospital setting. This means that as medics learn more about the outcomes of their patients within the four walls of the hospital, they can more readily adapt their skills and processes to treating future patients in the field.

For example, an agency may use outcome data to teach medics how to more easily recognize signs of sepsis or stroke based on data. Hospitals supporting their EMS partners this way results in a smarter, more informed EMS system that can readily tackle patient care and improve that care over the long run.

4. Building Stronger Partnership with EMS Agencies

An “Us versus Them” mentality in the ED can not only hamper the handoff from prehospital to hospital care, but can prevent improvements in processes, insight, and community health. Breaking down barriers by sharing patient outcomes and other helpful information can be an important step in building a collaborative culture with your EMS partners.

Ensuring your processes respect EMS input and time – like honoring CathLab alerts, meeting EMS teams at the door of the ED, and reviewing ePCR info they’ve sent ahead before they arrive – not only benefit your working relationship with prehospital providers, but also improve the care your patients receive. Using tools to share back patient data and outcomes helps them provide better care in the field and work on their own processes. Not to mention, when providers feel a part of the team, they are more likely to recommend your facility to patients and other EMS providers.

5. Making Smarter Treatment Decisions

ED health care professionals must make the best decisions possible with the information they have readily available. Leaving any detail out – including the patient’s care en route to the hospital – could easily change the treatment plan and the outcome. That’s why it is so valuable to have access to a complete patient care record, created by the responding EMS agency and handed off quickly and seamlessly at the ED.

Key data points like fluid administered, medications administered, and primary/secondary impressions can help physicians more quickly develop a picture of patient health and move to a diagnosis and treatment plan. In the noisy and often chaotic environment of the ED, a digital record and alerts sent ahead of arrival can have the ED team activated and ready to treat. This is especially important in the most traumatic cases.

6. Achieving Real and Measurable Time-Savings

In a typical setting, an EMS agency needs to either fax or print the patient care record for the hospital emergency department to access. Unfortunately, the challenge is that when there are delays, you can miss out on critical data needed to inform patient care decisions.

With a bidirectional data exchange between EMS and hospitals, you no longer need to wait hours to receive critical data. Instead, you’ll get access to that data within minutes and you won’t need to carry around papers or scan them into your hospital EHR. Instead, they are automatically sent to the EHR for easy reference and use.

Additionally, key time stamps and prehospital metrics are digitally recorded and easily referenced for QI/QA projects or other data-driven projects. From door-to-cath or other hospital metrics, you can easily track down time stamps and even connect back to prehosptial care.

7. Improved Insight into Critical Business Intelligence

A benefit of sharing data with EMS isn’t just in the medical realm; you can also see review referral patterns and receive insight into volume by service line to understand how EMS services are impacting your bottom line. EMS agencies represent a top source of your incoming patients, especially the most critical cases, and a good working relationship can help ensure they are choosing your facilities for their destinations.

Additionally, EMS data can help you develop a better understanding of your community. This can assist you in staffing and training, and also for important decisions like locations of future facilities based on community demographics and trends. Finally, the ability to review and verify demographic and insurance information streamlines the registration and billing processes for both hospitals and EMS service, increasing revenue.

Breaking down the barriers between prehosptial and hospital care is a win-win situation, benefitting patients, EMS agencies, and hospitals alike. Bidirectional data is key in helping all providers deliver better care, in any environment, and also directly improves the operational and business efficiencies of their organizations.

Watch a video now about ESO Health Data Exchange software, or learn more about its benefits for hospitals.

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After implementing ESO Health Data Exchange (HDE), the team at Memorial Regional Hospital was able to automate EMS record delivery directly into their hospital EHR, making data available at lightning speed and helping them reach their compliance goals for record abstraction.  

Come see how ESO HDE saved the team at Memorial Regional Hospital countless hours each week and how they’re changing the community health and safety game with data by downloading the full case study today.   

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A hospital QA manager notices that a STEMI patient didn’t receive aspirin in the ED. But then, checking the EMS chart in the patient’s electronic medical record (EMR), the QA manager learns that aspirin was given in the field, and the case is not counted against the hospital when service line performance measures are calculated.

But how does this happen? In today’s diverse and complicated healthcare system, creating cohesive ways to share information is a challenge. And nowhere is the patchwork of health delivery systems more evident than in the relationship between hospitals and EMS. EMS organizations frequently transport patients to multiple hospitals—and most hospitals receive patients from multiple EMS services, often with varying delivery models. Add first responder and air medical transport services, and the web of agencies, providers and information systems becomes tangled quickly.

The solution, two-way data exchange between EMS and hospitals, is being used successfully in a growing number of hospitals nationwide.  with hospitals having access to EMS information directly in the patient’s chart, and EMS having access to patient outcomes, billing data, and other information that was previously impossible.

Download the educational whitepaper, Improving Care Through Hospital-EMS Data Exchange, to learn:

• Four ways in which EMS, healthcare systems, payers and patients all benefit from two-way data exchange between hospitals and EMS
• How data exchange works
• Case study: How one hospital and EMS agency teamed up to improve sepsis treatment
• Common misbeliefs about hospital-EMS data exchange (and why they’re wrong)
• Next steps for agencies and hospitals interested in the benefits of two-way data exchange

Learn more about our Hospital Interoperability Software.

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However, the simple answer to the above question is yes. Hospitals and EMS agencies can absolutely exchange data, including diagnoses, lab results, and other outcome data without violating medical privacy laws such as HIPAA.  

The National EMS Information System (NEMSIS) and law firm Page, Wolfberg & Wirth (PWW) have put together a comprehensive whitepaper, “An Imaginary Barrier: How HIPAA Promotes Bidirectional Patient Exchange with Emergency Medical Services” outlining:  

• Importance of Bidirectional Data Sharing 
• Guidelines for COVID-19, ET3 and Opioid Response  
• How HIPAA and Federal Agencies Promote Bidirectional Patient Data Sharing  
• Steps for Sharing Patient Data Securely Between EMS and Hospital Facilities  

Access your copy here or fill out the form to your right to receive the document straight to your inbox.  

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