How many regimented KPIs does your EMS agency have in place? ZOLL clinical business expert, Jason Bartholomai, recently posed this question to a live webinar audience. Their responses were telling: a majority of attendees admitted to having “some” metrics but were not sure how many. Bartholomai has heard this before. He’s spent 14 years with ZOLL and 25 years in the EMS industry, and he's still working as a paramedic for a Pennsylvania agency that handles 35,000 to 40,000 calls a year.

The problem isn’t a lack of data on which to base KPIs. EMS agencies have been capturing ePCR data for years. The problem is operationalization: turning what’s already in the system into insights that drive decisions affecting clinical quality, staffing, and revenue.

Bartholomai is direct about the upside: reviewing billing accuracy tied to level-of-service justification alone can uncover significant, recoverable revenue. That kind of insight doesn’t require AI or a dedicated analyst. It simply requires knowing which reports to run, using the software you already have, and knowing what questions to ask. ePCR data can unlock invaluable information, including:

• Response time gaps, extended hospital wall times, and misaligned staffing patterns

• Addressable documentation training gaps that translate into fewer claim denials and more recoverable revenue at the billing stage

• “Frequent flyer” data that supports community paramedicine efforts and reduces repeat calls

Running the reports that matter most at regular intervals is a critical first step to becoming a data-driven organization. There are three performance domains to keep a close eye on: clinical, operational, and financial. Agencies can profoundly alter outcomes by changing how they use data. Bartholomai advocates a practical approach that leverages standard quality assurance (QA) templates adapted to your agency’s needs, tackling one high-impact area at a time so that it doesn’t feel overwhelming. From there, agencies can build on early wins and sustain the momentum with more advanced reporting and analysis.

Watch the webinar, “Data at Work: Real-world Use Cases in EMS Operations and QA/QI,” to discover what your ePCR data may already be telling you and learn how to build a proactive, data-driven culture.