It is important that EMS crews have the right credentials to do their duties safely and effectively. Every state regulates pre-hospital healthcare crews in some way, to varying degrees, in the interest of public safety and accountability. However, simply because licensing or certification is required doesn’t mean it should simply be a checkbox step and forgotten. Utilizing your licensure solution to its fullest can make your agency or department more agile, as these three cases demonstrate.
A Full-Featured Personnel Records Management System
Virginia Beach EMS is the nation’s largest volunteer EMS agency, with more than 300 applicants per year and 1,200 active volunteers. The agency is transforming its implementation of ImageTrend License Management from a license tracking platform to a full featured personnel records management system, allowing these applicants to enter their information online via the public portal.
This, combined with workflow automation, significantly reduces the time each full-time employee spends on entering data and tracking each application. It also provides visibility to senior leadership of the process through the applicant progress dashboard.
A National Registry Cross-Check and e-Licensing Portal
Working closely with ImageTrend and the National Registry of EMTs, Louisiana was one of the first states to fully integrate a robust electronic National Registry audit check with an eLicensing Portal. The Louisiana Bureau of EMS built the workflows to encompass an audit process that deters fraudulent applications and ensures every applicant’s national credential is 100 percent verified before an EMS license was issued or renewed. Louisiana’s license issuance time shrank from upwards of 40 days to an average of less than four hours — all while reducing costs and building public trust.
The combination of thoughtful planning, coupled with a dynamic and scalable system, have garnered measurable results for Louisiana.
A Technology Refresh for Faster and Transparent Processing
Implementing Colorado’s On-line Application Tracking Hub (OATH) system required a redesign of Colorado’s many business processes that support the state’s emergency medical services. This undertaking mapped and transferred the recognition process for approximately 120 educational programs, the registration process for nearly 200 medical directors and the certification process for over 17,000 providers throughout the state, including 60,000 legacy records. The project was completed on time and with no interruptions to these processes, but it required dedication to the vision of a completely electronic system and the temporary challenges presented by the process of updating.
With OATH, the department has the tools necessary for faster, more transparent processing of certification applications as well as streamlined interaction between providers and education programs. As a result, the department ensures faster and more transparent processing so that Colorado providers can track their application progress at any time, and that agencies within the state can be assured of accurate, timely and accessible certification information.
In each of these three cases, the organizations didn’t stop at simple yes/no for whether a license was issued. They looked at efficiency, accountability, public trust and improving healthcare delivery by maximizing their licensure system.