Enhancing Hospital Operations with EMS Data

A new AHA Market Scan Trailblazers report, sponsored by ImageTrend, explores how hospitals and health systems can improve operations using data from regional emergency medical services (EMS). Emergency department (ED) crowding, boarding and patients who leave without being seen are often treated as internal problems. Hospitals have historically had limited insight into external factors that fuel issues with ED operations — such as where local 911 calls originate, which EMS agencies respond and where they transport patients. However, some are closing that gap with EMS data drawn from their entire service area.

Transforming Data into Actionable Insights

Some hospitals and health systems have begun using incident reports from EMS providers to complement historical data. The National Emergency Medical Services Information System (NEMSIS) can serve as a strong foundation for EMS analytics, although it does have some limitations, including regional coverage variations due to voluntary agency participation. Overall, NEMSIS data can mitigate the scope, latency and standardization limitations associated with traditional data sources. While hospitals and researchers can request data directly from the database, the hospitals included in this report have opted for third-party data services that combine the data with analytics and dashboards.

With regional EMS data, hospitals can gain insight into community demand trends, transfer and referral activity, EMS destination patterns, clinical and quality measures and patient flow and volume trends. As a result, health systems and hospitals can improve care coordination and patient outcomes through well-informed strategic decisions, such as adding a stroke care center due to community demand.

The report includes case studies detailing how EMS data is driving real-world improvements at Alaska Regional Hospital and Coffee Regional Medical Center.