BALTIMORE — The American Ambulance Association (AAA) will premier an online subscription resource program to assist ambulance service providers - and also the entities that evaluate and contract for services - in part of its initiative to “raise the bar” for quality, performance, accountability and cost effectiveness of EMS (emergency medical services) throughout the country. Named “EMS Structured for Quality: Best Practices in Designing, Managing and Contracting for Emergency Ambulance Service,” the online program will be released at the EMS Today conference in Baltimore, Md., March 28- 29.
The user-friendly subscription program will include an online tool kit that provides resources considered to be the industry’s best practices on how to achieve the balance between quality and cost factors. The tool kit will contain helpful materials including an electronic searchable, downloadable and printable version of guidebook, the keystone of the program. It is the guiding principle document that can be used as a tool for ambulance providers to use to showcase and evaluate their service¹s quality patient care, and a tool for contracting agencies to use to evaluate and contract for emergency ambulance service in their community.
“EMS Structured for Quality” also includes a downloadable interactive financial modeling program used to determine rates and fees given various cost and reimbursement scenarios; Quick Start Guides on how to get started quickly in using components within the tool kit; a sample media release subscribers can use when informing local communities that they have subscribed and committed to even greater quality, response, performance, accountability and efficiency; access to webinars, technical support staff and other educational opportunities provided by the AAA that support the users of this program; and frequent updates with new materials, resources and tools on an ongoing basis.
“The pressures on emergency ambulance service providers are intense and getting more so everyday,” said Jim Buell, director of special projects for AAA. “If one of those pressures is to validate the quality of your performance and accountability to a contracting entity, elected officials, your community, the media, colleagues, or patients, then this subscription program is a perfect fit and a must have. Rural or metro, large or small, private or public, every system can benefit from the subscription program.”
The subscription program was designed to be a tool for ambulance providers to use to showcase their service’s quality patient care, and a tool for government contracting agencies to use to evaluate and contract for emergency ambulance service in their community through four essential performance results including:
- Clinical Excellence
- Response-Time Reliability
- Economic Efficiency
- Customer Satisfaction
“In the next five to 10 years there will be challenges so large and threatening to ambulance providers,” said Buell “Some of these issues include the baby boomers aging and needing additional EMS services, population growth increasing the need for EMS services, and budget issues impacting service providers with labor and health coverage costs for employees and technology improvement costs. If EMS providers are not prepared or at least making steps, they will be damaged, and possibly may not survive. This subscription program will help providers better prepare to achieve success during these challenges.”
Last published in 2004 as the “Community Guide to Ensure High-Performance Emergency Ambulance Service,” the revamped and enhanced program now includes the guidebook itself, which is electronically searchable and readily downloadable. It has been updated to include new references, a chapter designed for rural or smaller ambulance services, and extensive third party validation information from organizations such as the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services, Institutes of Medicine, American Heart Association for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care, Annals of Emergency Medicine, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Government Accountability Office.
The two-year subscription service is $89 for AAA members for the first year and $39 for the second year. The subscription is $169 for non-members for the two-year subscription. ³EMS Structured for Quality² will allow subscribers to purchase a full-color hard cover version of the guidebook for an additional $89 fee.
Subscribers who sign-up for the new program at the AAA booth during the conference will receive a bonus coupon for any AAA audio-conference during 2008, a $105 value for AAA members ($210 value for non members).
For additional information regarding the subscription program, visit the AAA booth #143 at EMS Today or visit EmergencyAmbulanceQuality.org, or call 1-800-523-4447.
About AAA
Founded in 1979, the American Ambulance Association (AAA) is the national trade association representing ambulance services that provide EMT and paramedic-level emergency medical care and transfer of patients between health care facilities. AAA was designed to promote health care policies that ensure excellence in the ambulance services industry and provide research, education and communications programs to enable its members to effectively address the needs of the communities they serve. AAA represents ambulance services across the United States that participate in serving more than 75 percent of the U.S. population with emergency and nonemergency care and medical transportation services. The AAA was formed in response to the need for improvements in medical transportation and emergency medical services. AAA views pre-hospital care not only as a public service, but also as an essential part of the total public health care system.