San Diego’s emergency medical services (EMS) system depends on close coordination between first responders and hospitals to provide timely, lifesaving care throughout our community. Hospitals maintain around-the-clock emergency and specialty care capabilities, receive patients when every minute matters, and work closely with EMS clinicians to ensure a seamless transition from the field to the emergency department (ED). Two significant changes now underway will affect how hospitals fulfill this essential role.
Under the state’s Chapter 6 Specialty Designation Regulations, which take effect Oct. 1, hospitals must submit patient outcome data for all specialty care patients transported to them by first responders. While this change is intended to increase standardization in specialty care data reporting, it will substantially expand data submission requirements.
For example, general acute care hospital trauma reporting must include nearly 20 patient care data elements, such as time of arrival in the ED, discharge data, and mode of arrival.
We recognize that this may present challenges for some of your hospitals and know that manual data collection may be necessary in the short term to meet the regulatory requirements. HASD&IC continues to advocate on your behalf with San Diego County EMS leadership to ensure hospitals’ voices are included in the planning and implementation processes to ensure concerns and logistical challenges can be mitigated. San Diego County EMS is encouraging hospitals to expedite establishment of automated, bi-directional data exchange systems to assist in this effort.
However, implementation of Chapter 6 regulations isn’t the only EMS-related change in San Diego. As work continues on the EMS Delivery System Redesign, San Diego County EMS is transitioning to a new prehospital notification pilot program. (See 5 Things for details on pilot participant meetings.) Starting today, all EMS agencies and receiving EDs will participate in a new direct-to-receiving hospital radio pilot. EMS agencies will use the “AWARE” format to provide brief prehospital notification directly to the receiving hospital. This is a critical next step in the EMS Delivery System Redesign as the county works to improve efficient communication between EMS clinicians and EDs.
Know that these requirements represent significant changes and potentially new demands on hospital staff. HASD&IC will continue working with our partners at the California Hospital Association and other stakeholders in the health care community to understand the operational impacts, elevate hospital concerns, and identify opportunities to support readiness and effective compliance.