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Empowering Improvement for our providers, our patients, our communities, and our future.
Rural EMS Counts FAQWhat is Rural EMS Counts?The name of a project the North Dakota EMS Association has undertaken to empower improvement through the use of measures. Rural EMS Counts is a play on words to both mean that rural EMS is important along with rural EMS using measures and numbers. What is a measure?A measure is simply how often something happens. Still not sure what that means? Let's look at a Rural EMS Counts example: 12 Lead Performed for Suspected Cardiac Chest Pain If you run the measure, you will get a percentage. The percentage gives you how often your agency is performing 12-Lead ECG’s on patients with suspected cardiac chest pain, based on the provider’s primary or secondary impression. If you get 75% and had 4 patients, that would mean 3 of 4 suspected cardiac chest pain patients received a 12-Lead. What are the Rural EMS Counts Measures?This project focused on five areas: Vital Signs, Stroke, Cardiac, Pain and Safety. These measures will tell you things like how often blood glucose is checked for stroke patients or if pulse, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and pulse ox were all documented for a patient. What does an agency "participating" require of the agency?Fill out a participation agreement, so we know about you. Send to lnarloch@ndemsa.org. Run each of the measures by logging into ESO and then clicking on Analytics > Repository Reports > North Dakota > Rural EMS Counts. If you have questions or concerns, reach out to the project manager, regional advisors or subject matter experts. Why should my service participate?
How much time is participation going to require?We expect the agency project leader could spend between 1-2 hours a month on running the measures and working on the project worksheet. I'm not the agency manager. What can I do?You could lead the project for the EMS agency. You could offer to help your manager with the project. You could advocate your EMS agency participate. You can attend our townhalls. You could submit a deidentified case for "Minutes with a Medical Director." My agency doesn't use ESO for our ePCR, can I still run the Rural EMS Counts Measures?Every EMS agency that submits data to the state of North Dakota has access to ESO and the Rural EMS Counts Measures. If you aren't sure who at your agency has access, email ESO support at support@eso.com with the following language: "I am with ______ ambulance, a 3rd party participant in the ND Repository. We need access to our account/tenant as we are unsure who currently has access and are unsure of login credentials." I don't know how to login to ESO.Email ESO Support at support@eso.com or you can fill out a form on their website at https://www.eso.com/support/ . |
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Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program – EMS Supplement
HRSA Funding Opportunity Number: HRSA-19-095
What is this funding received by the University of North Dakota, Center for Rural Health?
The Center for Rural Health (CRH) at UND administers the Flex grant program. On September 1, 2019 CRH UND was awarded the Flex EMS Supplement to address Focus Area 2: To implement a demonstration project on data collection and reporting for a set of rural-relevant EMS quality measures. North Dakota received one of only four funding opportunities nationwide. The overall concept involves seeking stakeholder consensus during the measure selection process, testing the processes for collection, training and mentoring, and reporting the measures. This three year supplement grant period will end on August 31, 2022.
Who are the partners in this data collection project?
The ND EMS Association will be the official sub award recipient of this EMS supplement. The CRH will work with the ND EMS Association and the ND Department of Health, Division of EMS to implement the proposed work plan. In addition, ESO of Austin, Texas will provide a number of services to aid in the success of this project. ESO is a rapidly growing technology company providing software applications, interoperability and data management solutions to EMS, fire departments and hospitals. Finally, identified subject matter experts (SME’s) who specialize in data collection and quality measures are also contracted partners in the project. These parties and other EMS stakeholders will comprise the ND EMS Quality Improvement Steering Committee. The committee’s purpose is to oversee the project; serve as a resource; and, to promote and disseminate the findings from the project. This committee will also select a Project Manager to work with the steering committee.
What is the breakdown of the work plan of this EMS supplement QI project?
Activity 2.1: Coordinate Project Organizational Structure
a. Establish ND EMS Quality Improvement Program steering committee
b. Select a project manager to coordinate project activities
Activity 2.2: Identify Rural EMS Agencies for Participation
a. Identify subject matter experts to participate in this project
b. Select ND-based EMS agencies operating in rural settings to participate in evaluation of selected measures
Activity 2.3: Measure Selection
a. Extract data from both rural communities in ND and the ESO Solutions national dataset
b. Identify currently available clinical and performance measures and rank available measures
c. Host one day focus group sessions
Activity 2.4: Training
a. Train the trainer and statewide training sessions for SME’s and EMS agencies
b. Mentorship of EMS agency leaders
Activity 2.5: Data Collection and Analysis
a. Use ND EMS data repository to evaluate the feasibility of implementing identified clinical and performance measures using existing data collection practices and standard elements
b. Conduct virtual quarterly training sessions using Project ECHO platform
Activity 2.6: Support Use of Quality Measures in Rural EMS Agencies
a. Benchmark comparison of ND quality measure reports to ESO national dataset for rural EMS agencies
b. Disseminate measures locally and nationally to promote widespread use and tracking of improvement trends
Town Hall Recordings
Ask an expert: Write your question or suggest a topic and we may cover it. You can do so anonymously and the question may be answered at the next town hall or you can include your email address and we may send you an answer directly.
| Month | Subject | Registration or Recording Link |
| June | Health Data Exchange | Recorded Town Hall |
| July | Creating Value in EMS | Recorded Town Hall |
| August | Regional Round Tables | These are not recorded. |
| September | Low Stress Leadership Strategies and a Culture Ready for Quality | Recorded Town Hall |
| October | Peer Feedback that Works and Clinical Mentorship | Recorded Town Hall |
| November | Technology, Security, Privacy: What EMS Needs to Know | Recorded Town Hall |
| December | Regional Round Tables | These are not recorded. |
| January 26 | Introduction to Cost Collection Data | Recorded |
| January 28 | Reporting, Health Data Exchange and Questions for ESO | Recorded Town Hall |
| April 20 | North Dakota Health Information Network | Recorded Town Hall |
| May 18 | Safety: Responder to Patient and a Few Things In Between | Recorded Town Hall |
| January 15 | Hidden Dangers: Diagnostic Errors in EMS | Recorded Link |