NAEMT and NEMSMA will join PrioriHealth on project 

PrioriHealth announced today it has finalized a contract with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Office of Emergency Medical Services to implement a two-year project to access the ability of existing National EMS Information System (NEMSIS) data to measure local and state EMS system performance as outlined by the December 2009 EMS Performance Measures. The National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) and the National EMS Management Association (NEMSMA) were key partners in the proposal development and integral in identifying the key agency participants that will be studied.

Led by Gary Wingrove and Nick Nudell, PrioriHealth assists health care organizations better understand their patients, processes, and system from the data contained in their information systems. IT systems contain vital clues that - once unleashed - become powerful tools for making better decisions. This information is found in computer aided dispatch, patient care reports, and financial, fleet management, staffing, scheduling, and other systems. Wingrove and Nudell both have extensive backgrounds in EMS.

The project will collect two years of ePCR NEMSIS data from 8 different local EMS agencies and two different states. The agencies identified to participate in this project include: MONOC, NJ; Ada County Paramedics, ID; MedStar, TX; Sac County, IA; Durango Fire & Rescue, CO; Beatrice Fire Rescue, NE; Valley Ambulance, NE; and MedAct, KS. The states of Colorado and Nebraska will also participate.

The data will be analyzed using the performance measures to determine how well that data can be used for those measures. Based on the results of the analysis, the project will work with the participating EMS agencies and states, and NHTSA to determine alternative measures wherever necessary. A final report of on the project findings and recommendations will be submitted to NHTSA in September, 2014.

Wingrove, President of PrioriHealth, said, "This project is important to the EMS industry for a number of reasons, including potentially having an electronic method to report performance in a standardized way to local, state and national funders, to help guide development of provider friendly future versions of the NEMSIS product, and to provide inputs for informed processes of future performance measure identification and development by NHTSA or other government agencies. Nick and I have solid working relationships with NAEMT and NEMSMA. We look forward to working with these organizations and the agencies and states recruited on this two year project.”

For additional information about this project, contact nick@priorihealth.com.