Proving Value with EMS Data
West County EMS and Fire Protection District Case Study
Executive summary
West County EMS and Fire Protection District wanted to use data to monitor performance, develop key performance indicators (KPIs), improve patient outcomes, and demonstrate value in its community. Finding software that offered real data mining and analytics inside a system people would actually enjoy using proved difficult.
Today, staff across the agency use ESO Electronic Health Record (EHR) and ESO Health Data Exchange (HDE) to show return on investment through stronger data reporting.
Results
Customer goals
- Adopt user-friendly software with advanced data mining and reporting
- Complete patient care records with more precision and efficiency
- Use data to monitor performance and improve patient outcomes
- Save time on non-essential tasks
- Simplify documentation
- Highlight value within the community
The need for data and insights
EMS agencies and fire departments are increasingly aware of the role data play in demonstrating the value of their services. Data let an agency monitor performance, build benchmarks, and improve patient care and outcomes. Finding software that supports that work well is often the sticking point.
When West County EMS and Fire Protection District set out to become more data-centric, ESO made its shortlist. “We knew we needed to get data out of whatever system we purchased so we could actually show the impact we were having in our community,” explains Jeff Sadtler, Chief of EMS and Fire Services. “ESO made it to the top of the list because of their analytics capabilities.”
Retrieval was only half of it. Chief Sadtler also wanted his team to complete patient care reports more efficiently. “The front side of the software was equally important. If you have software that’s too complicated to use, you’ll just end up frustrated. ESO’s EHR software was more user-friendly to our personnel who were going to use it,” he notes.
The district also wanted time back from non-essential work. “We were coming from a world where you would spend a lot of time faxing a record or emailing it. It didn’t make financial sense to use personnel to complete tasks that ESO handled 100% electronically,” added Chief Sadtler.
Turning to ESO
Implementation was straightforward. “I spent a lot of time in the Admin Console getting everything set up. The benefit is, once we got EHR up, we were able to serve as the model for other agencies in our county,” comments Chief Sadtler. “We’re proud of the fact that we’ve paved the way for ESO in the area.”
Personnel were trained and onboarded on documenting patient care records electronically and securely in the field. Staff could follow the top navigation to complete reports, and validation summaries helped prevent inaccurate documentation.
Alongside EHR, the district brought in HDE, which provides two-way data sharing with hospitals to support operational and quality processes. The team set it up with the two major hospitals in the area so patient records and outcome data could move in both directions.
“We’re able to get data for 70–75 percent of the calls we go on from the hospitals in our area.”
Jeff Sadtler, Chief of EMS and Fire Services, West County EMS and Fire Protection District
Seeing the impact of data
As data began flowing in from EHR Analytics and HDE, Chief Sadtler had immediate insight into team performance. “Once we started running the data, we began creating KPIs based on what we were seeing. We started out with four and now we have fourteen KPIs that we review on a regular basis,” he says. “We’ve grown from being able to look at the basics such as arrival time to more complicated metrics. For example, years ago we had no data on how often we performed end-tidal CO2 monitoring. Now, we can show that we utilize end-tidal CO2 monitoring on 100% of advanced airways.”
The gains show up in quality management and staff training too. “Prior to EHR and HDE, if a medic was in the field, there wasn’t a reliable way to consistently or fairly assess skill performance. Now we can simply review the data and provide feedback almost immediately,” explains Chief Sadtler.
The district has also partnered with nearby agencies to create benchmarks and trend lines geographically. “We have regular meetings where we compare and contrast our performance not only on the individual level but also across agencies, so we can see where we stand,” he says. Integration with the dispatch agency extends that quality management process through dispatch as well.
“The ability to easily compare dispatch complaint to primary impression to ED diagnosis, and ultimately to discharge diagnosis is something that was a pipe dream just a few years ago. We can do that in seconds now which obviously has created much leaner processes, but more importantly improves the product we’re providing.”
Jeff Sadtler, Chief of EMS and Fire Services, West County EMS and Fire Protection District
Hospital relationships have improved as well. “We absolutely have a better relationship with our hospitals. Previously, if you wanted to know how a patient fared in the hospital, it was such a long, drawn out process and you might only receive part of the story,” notes Chief Sadtler. “Now we just log in and look. Clinically, we’re able to analyze data, review outcomes and audit ourselves. The two-way street is priceless.”
Most importantly, patient outcomes have improved. “I don’t think there’s any doubt we’ve improved patient care,” says Chief Sadtler. “We’re now in a position where we can tell people in our community ‘here’s how we’ve advanced care.’ The data gives us the confidence to show the value we bring to the table.”
Future thinking
As the district continues with ESO EHR and HDE, the team is looking at what else is possible in its community and beyond. “I wish we had started with ESO a lot sooner so we’d have a bigger dataset to work with. For anyone who is contemplating ESO, it’s well worth the time and financial investment because you simply can’t put a price tag on the ROI,” adds Chief Sadtler. “From a clinical perspective and the amount of knowledge we’ve received, it’s been great.”
“By the time I retire, I would love to look back and say look how far we’ve come from hand-written reports to a world where hospitals, EMS and private physicians are all talking from the same medium using the same data. That will be exciting.”
Jeff Sadtler, Chief of EMS and Fire Services, West County EMS and Fire Protection District
