(Q4/2024) ESO Updates: Quarterly Product Enhancements
Happy New Year, and welcome back to another edition of ESO product updates. Thanks to our new and improved feedback process, our customers have been more involved than ever in our Product Roadmap. Your input is invaluable to our team and integral to the improvements and enhancements you’ll find below. So, without further ado, here are the latest updates from ESO in Q4 2024 and what’s just ahead on the horizon, all of which has been made possible by our incredible ESO community:
Content Applicability by Product
Building Blocks | EMS | Fire | Hospital | State |
EMS | Shock Index | x | |||
EHR | iOS Beta Release | x | |||
EHR | Stryker LP35 Beta | x | |||
EHR | MIH/Community Paramedicine Run Type | x | |||
EHR | FLACC Pain Scale | x | |||
EHR | GenAI Narrative Web Beta Release | x | |||
Logis Dispatch | Voice Platform | x | |||
Logis Dispatch | AVL Subscription API | x | |||
Logis Billing | Automation and Integrations | x | |||
Fire Incidents | NERIS Update | x | |||
Hydrants | External API | x | |||
Permits | External API | x | |||
HDE | EMPI Matches | x | x | ||
PM | Pay Rates | x | x | ||
PM | New Classes Insights Dashboards | x | x | ||
Activities | Edit Operational Tasks | x | x | ||
Checklists | New Meter Reading Fields | x | x | ||
Assets | Maintenance & Asset Profile Updates | x | x | ||
Scheduling | Comp Time Enhancements | x | x | ||
ODL | New PM and Assets Courses | x | x | ||
Patient Registry | Onboarding Guide | x | |||
Insights | Dashboards | x | x | x | |
Insights | Data Synthesis, Validation and Accuracy tools (internal) | x | x | x | x |
Cross-Product / ESO Suite | In-App Enhancement Feedback | x | x | x | x |
EHR | Shock Index
As part of our 2024 initiative to make Critical Care documentation more robust in ESO EHR, we’ve added Shock Index to Vitals in both Blood Pressure and Pulse Tiles. You can now automatically calculate Shock Index based off of the values you enter for Pulse and Systolic Blood Pressure.
EHR | iOS Beta Release
We’re excited to announce an early adopter preview release of our much-anticipated ESO EHR iOS application! This release will allow you to complete and sync all record fields to the web for validation and lock, while a second release happening later this month will let you do so in-app prior to syncing.
Stay tuned. We’re making the jump to general availability (GA) and adding new features such as CAD and Cardiac Monitor integrations, Longitudinal Record (LR), and Mobile-to-Mobile functionality.
EHR | Stryker LP35 Beta
In Q4, we started beta testing the LIFEPAK 35, a brand-new ESO EHR cardiac monitor integration that receives transmissions through Stryker’s LIFENET API. The ability to import data from the monitor to ESO EHR reduces documentation time while improving the accuracy of your data, allowing you to better focus on the delivery of care. This new integration is now available to all ESO EHR users.
As technology modernizes in the field, ESO EHR will continue to advance its integrations to better support your needs, including the upcoming capability of importing 15-lead ECG waveform images.
EHR | MIH / Community Paramedicine Run Type
Mobile Integrated Health (MIH)/Community Paramedicine has been added to ESO EHR to better support the unique workflow requirements of agencies that document MIH/CP visits. This run type and its required fields will streamline state submissions by removing many of the configurable validation requirements while giving you the tools necessary to manage your MIH/Community Paramedicine program’s unique documentation and reporting needs.
EHR | FLACC Pain Scale
The FLACC Pain Scale was part of our Critical Care initiative in 2024 and will be available in the Pain section within Vitals in ESO EHR. You can use it to directly document and upload FLACC Pain Scores and final score data for non-verbal patients into ESO Insights for easier reporting.
EHR | GenAI Narrative Web Beta Release
Currently in beta, the new GenAI Narrative Web feature for ESO EHR allows you to request an auto-generated Narrative on a PCR, streamlining data entry while improving focus on care. The first phase of our Auto-Generated Narrative uses the DCHARTE format, which allows you to request AI-generated narratives for Transport records with a “transport by this EMS unit” disposition.
Our beta period will extend through the beginning of February. So far, customer feedback has been promising, and we will continue to collect and incorporate feedback throughout this period. This feature will be available to all customers on ESO EHR before Wave 2025.
Logis Dispatch | Voice Platform
A complete rewrite of the Logis Voice platform has been finalized and is now live with the first customer! The rewrite features a complete architectural makeover, client-side experience, and full ESO Chat functionality. Support for various phone systems will also be included in an upcoming phase.
Logis Dispatch | AVL Subscription API
The Logis Dispatch IDS API now includes the ability to subscribe to Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) feeds. This enables you to perform live updates through webhooks in any system integrated into Logis Dispatch.
Logis Billing | Automation and Integrations
The ESO team was hard at work adding more automation and logic to the Billing solution, including:
- A new Payor Matrix feature that acts as a payor decision tree will further reduce the headache of incorrect payor denials. New integrations were added to enable bi-directional interactions with WayStar for insurance verification and discovery and Artiva for third-party patient invoice management. You can also now streamline frequent tasks by assigning hotkeys to your ten most-used functions.
- New configurations allow you to assign and report on workers’ claims for the Office of Worker’s Compensation (OWCP), assign provider numbers (Taxonomy) to service types to help reduce backend denials related to the services provided, and automate narrative generation and emergency statement form assignments based on payor rules and regulations through newly added narrative templates.
- Lastly, you’ll find updated logic that helps you identify and accept exceptions presented on manual 835 flat file imports, enhanced task views that assist with queue management and follow-up project preparation, updated contractual adjustments related to bundles and denials, and an automatic printing of ePCRs with paper CMS 1500 (HCFA) forms.
Fire Incidents | NERIS Update
Since late 2023, ESO has been actively working with FEMA and their contractor, UL (FSRI), to help you prepare for the transition to the National Emergency Response Information System (NERIS). In Q4 2024, FEMA delivered the final v.1 of the Phase 1 schema and a draft of the validation rules for incident reporting, which allowed us to validate some assumptions in our planning and adjust for future expansions of the rules. Our development team has been hard at work implementing our solution for NERIS with the goal of having a basic NERIS-compliant version of Fire Incidents ready for beta testing by the end of Q1 2025.
This basic version will not include auto-import configuration and integrations with CAD and EHR will not be added until upcoming releases in 2025. For more information, visit our FAQs About NERIS.
Hydrants | External API
Your Fire Data API subscription now includes a new external, bidirectional Hydrants API! This API provides direct, real-time access to hydrant data and allows for third-party integrations that make it easier to share your ESRI account with your water department and display shared hydrant and hydrant task data.
Hydrant records, including location, status, inspection and maintenance history, task scheduling, etc., can now be updated using the available API endpoints. To learn how to use the Hydrants API, head to the ESO API Developer portal.
Permits | External API
A new external, bi-directional Permits API is now included in your Fire Data API Subscription. This API provides direct, real-time access to permit data, including type, status, fee, applicant, etc., which you can then update through available API endpoints. Head to the ESO API Developer portal to learn how to use your Permits API.
Public APIs allow us to incorporate the third-party services that improve your current ESO offerings and, in turn, improve your day-to-day workflows.
HDE | EMPI Matches
We have enhanced HDE EMPI matching to ensure that all units responding to an incident now qualify for an EMPI match rather than just a singular EMS record, which is what was previously eligible. This update guarantees that each of your responding units will be processed through our EMPI system, which is particularly crucial in regions with high first responder EHR utilization, such as Napa Valley and Monterey County in California and Providence Healthcare in Washington.
PM | Pay Rates
You can now track individual pay rate history on both PM Basic and purchased PM by heading to team members’ personnel records located in the Pay Rate section of the new Work Performance tab. You can also manage the complete list of hourly and flat rate pay rates by heading to PM > Settings. To enable this functionality, visit PM > Settings > Enable Add-Ons.
Pay Rates are available for any customer and are a prerequisite for the upcoming Compensation module. This new module will allow payroll calculations for volunteer and combination departments, as well as departments who have a pay-per-call model where personnel are paid by response.
PM | New Classes Insights Dashboards
Two new dashboards are available in Insights for PM! “Training Sessions and Duration by Personnel” is a global dashboard for customers who do not use credit hours and points for training classes and would prefer to calculate and record time based on session length.
The second dashboard, “PM – Classes – Quality Control,” will allow you to identify sessions with missing information (such as credits, instructors, or attendees) through a new quick selector bar graph and summary tables.
Activities | Edit Operational Tasks
This long-awaited Activities improvement will allow users with the appropriate security permissions to edit the fields of any completed operational task, including status. An audit trail located in the record will capture all changes made.
Checklists | New Meter Reading Fields
Based on your feedback, two additional meter reading fields have been added to Checklists: Aerial Hours and Generator Hours. These new options are now included in the editing process and, if enabled, will be available to your crew during checklist submissions.
Assets | Maintenance & Asset Profile Updates
Several Asset updates were made in Q4, setting the stage for new Preventive Maintenance features coming in early 2025. Vehicle and equipment profile pages will now feature meter reading fields that can either be manually updated or automatically updated through Checklist submissions. We’ve also improved data storage to better support your Preventive Maintenance reminders and overall reporting experience.
Meter reading fields have also been added to the Maintenance Request, along with view-only Created By and Created Date/Time fields, and the ability to set a vehicle back as in-service after the request is completed.
Scheduling | Comp Time Enhancements
Based on your feedback, administrators can now disable Schedule Conflicts for the Comp Time and Accrued Comp Time item types. This will allow schedulers to reflect the comp time used or accrued by employees while having a standard paid shift on the schedule.
ODL – New PM and Assets Courses
Keep an eye out for two new On-Demand Learning (ODL) courses. “Personnel Management – Basic Setup and Use” is a refresh to the PM Basic course and is broken down into 14 short video modules designed to help you quickly find any information you need while making content more accessible. “Assets – Location Management” gets admin users up to speed on new Location Management features while also teaching them how to create, manage, archive, and organize locations and sublocations in Assets.
Insights | Dashboards
Our designers have been very busy this quarter building 48 new dashboards across the entire ESO Suite! Here’s a quick breakdown by product:
Related Application | Number of New Dashboards |
Patient Registry | 38 |
Fire Incidents | 5 |
Trauma Repository | 3 |
EHR | 2 |
Cross-Product / ESO Suite | In-App Enhancements
In Q4, ESO received 1,646 enhancement suggestions from our community, and we have triaged and replied to 80.9% of those suggestions. We will continue to email you updates when viable ideas progress into the discovery, design, and development stages.
Our team worked on the next evolution of improving feedback throughout our software design and development process to ensure we are building exactly what your teams need. Our new Ideas Portal will be under tabs and mirror our Roadmap’s design and development stages:
- Now = Newly released features and updates
- Next = Works in progress with a delivery timeline
- Later = Ideas that are committed to the roadmap, but the timeline remains unknown
- Under Consideration = Ideas being actively investigated for feasibility
Look out for our pilot launch in Personnel Management early in Q1.
What to expect in Q1/25?
We have a few more exciting improvements in the works for Q1 2025. Please stay tuned for release notes and the next product blog, but here’s a sneak preview of upcoming updates and enhancements:
EMS
- EHR iOS GA
- Physio LP35 Integration GA
- Longitudinal Records for iOS and Windows Mobile
- EHR Web AI Generative Narrative – 1st Release
Fire
- GIS/Mapping (Properties Grid)
- Hydrants Bulk Actions
Shared Apps
- Scheduling – Shift Swap Refresh
- Assets – Preventive Maintenance Foundations
- PM – Compensation (Payroll for Vol/Combo) Phase 1
Hospital
- Compliance Matrix Tooling enhancements
- Cerner FHIR Integration
Cross-Product / ESO Suite
- A brand-new login screen and features
- Launching in early Q1, the Resource Center for Personnel Management will feature an ‘Ideas Portal’ pilot that will share ideas currently in various stages of design and development. To access it, click on the red notification in the Personnel Management Resource Center, which you can locate by clicking on the blue question mark in the bottom right-hand corner.
- If the ‘Ideas Portal’ pilot is a successful means of gaining more valuable feedback, we plan to launch a portal for each of our Resource Centers by the end of Q1. Please check it out and give us feedback on the value of the ideas presented.
About Product Management at ESO
The ESO Product Management is responsible for creating the Product Roadmap, which outlines what products, features, and functionalities we will build next. Through daily collaboration with support, sales, customer success, industry experts, and, most importantly, customers like you, our team works hard to create the best apps possible to advance our mission of improving community health and safety through the power of data.
Over the past year, we’ve invested in world-class tools that allow us to capture customer product feedback at scale and, in turn, make more informed roadmap decisions. These tools enable us to quickly test ideas to deliver the most valuable features to you. We value your input and hope you continue to engage with us through our continuously expanding in-app capabilities
Want to look at the progress made on the ESO Product Roadmap in 2024? Check out the three previous ESO Updates Quarterly Product Enhancements blog posts below.