ZOLL Pulse Blog

The prior authorization (PA) process emergency medical service (EMS) providers endure is a story of unintended consequences. Created as a...

A new year means new opportunities to set goals, reevaluate current workflows, and make the necessary changes to enhance your accounts...

Inovalon, a provider of cloud-based healthcare clinical and economic solutions, wanted to help their collections agency customer (serving...

The transfer of care from emergency medical service (EMS) to the hospital emergency departments (ED) is often a chaotic process.i Some of...

You might be surprised at how many billing challenges are common for every agency. Issues that cause payment delays or denials are the same...

Revenue integrity is the goal of every billing department. If an agency can achieve this goal, its documentation will stand up to the...

Covering reimbursement rates, medical necessity, credentialing, and prior authorization (PA), payer-provider contracts are key to emergency...

When seconds count, it’s imperative that call takers and dispatchers have the right tools in place to get the optimal level of care out to...

Emergency medical service (EMS) providers are facing ongoing challenges when it comes to receiving the maximum reimbursement rate from...

Based in Key Largo, Florida, E-Care Ambulance (E-Care) launched as a small, but fast-growing service offering BLS, ALS, and critical care...

Everything that happens in an ambulance has a huge impact on what happens to a patient in a hospital. Unfortunately, handoffs between...

The data obtained by emergency medical technicians (EMTs) on-scene sometimes is not translated into optimal hospital care during handoffs....

Healthcare reimbursement practices are under scrutiny, and payment levels are declining for providers from emergency medical services (EMS)...

Electronic patient care reports (ePCRs) should paint a vivid picture; if it is not documented, it didn’t happen! Documentation is the key...

Since the No Surprises Act (NSA) has gone into effect, emergency medicine (EM) physicians and emergency medical service (EMS) air ambulance...

Continuing its mission to design software and data solutions that help EMS agencies improve performance from dispatch to discharge, ZOLL®...

Monroe Ambulance’s (Monroe) providers often had challenges surrounding their patient care reports (PCRs) and wanted a morestreamlinedway to...

The prior authorization (PA) process was created as a utilization management tool for insurance companies and patients. However, it has...

For smaller EMS agencies, difficulties with billing can have a multi-faceted effect on all areas of business. Small agencies may be dealing...

Access to comprehensive patient data throughout the continuum of care is a major interest for multiple stakeholders. Emergency department...

Mayo Clinic Ambulance (Mayo Clinic) pursued an integrated platform that would allow them to advance patient care, medicine, and service,...

St. Luke’s Emergency & Transport Services (SLETS) needed to meet a demand of 25,000 yearly patients accounting for 5,000 transport requests...

With two separate, siloed counties to manage, Virtua Health Patient Logistics (Virtua) found an opportunity to better control its data and...

JFK University Medical Center (JFK EMS) needed a patient documentation software solution to better support their QA/QI processes. With a...

Patient satisfaction is a difficult puzzle for EMS providers to piece together. Medics are driven by a sincere desire to help people, but...

In a recent ZOLL Data Systems webinar, three clinical managers from the JFK University Medical Center (JFK EMS) in New Jersey shared their...

Across the country, emergency medicine providers are strapped by workforce gaps and swamped by a rising tide of patient visits to the...

With reporting deadlines looming for the Medicare Ground Ambulance Data Collection System (GADCS), it’s of vital importance to understand...

When EMS agencies maximize reimbursement revenue from patient transports, they help keep their organization financially strong so that they...

ZOLL® Summit is back this June and is bigger and better than ever. As our largest and longest running educational event of the year, ZOLL...

Paper-based charting in the field is still the norm for EMS and Fire medics. Logging into a browser-based ePCR system simply isn’t...

What happens when millions of people lose healthcare coverage in one year? That’s the question healthcare providers are apprehensively...

During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, our dispatch team was hit hard with the virus. Five dispatchers tested positive for COVID,...

ZOLL® Data Systems has unveiled the latest innovation for its flagship, cloud-based ePCR software, ZOLL emsCharts.® A new mobile companion...

“Self-pay accounts are leaving EMS agencies “hanging by their fingernails.” So says Maggie Adams, President of EMS Financial Services.It’s...

Understanding recent, nuanced changes to American Medical Association (AMA) coding standards will be essential for maintaining financially...

Is it worth it to bring your EMS billing in-house? Sooner or later, every organization that outsources its billing and collections...

As the new year begins, most states are preparing to, or already have, released their National EMS Information System (NEMSIS) v3.5...

Facing an increasing number and complexity of claims, many healthcare organizations are hoping that software automation can provide billing...

Along with a new year, January 1 will usher in watershed changes to the American Medical Association’s (AMA) “Current Procedure Terminology...

Suited for providers’ personal devices, ZOLL® emsCharts® NOW is streamlined for contemporaneous use even when there’s no connection.

Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) have had to weather multiple storms in recent years. First, when procedure volume dropped during the...

When patients receive attention and care on the financial portion of medical care, along with quality patient care, it can reduce stress,...

The EMS industry is experiencing unprecedented challenges, including staffing shortages and unsustainable revenue models. Matt Zavadsky,...

The demand for accessible, convenient outpatient procedures is growing. At the same time, ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) are contending...

When the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) expires, it will be a pivotal time for providers, payers, and patients. As state Medicaid...

Despite staffing shortages and increasing patient volumes, ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are still expected to provide high-quality...

Golder Ranch Fire District (GRFD) leadership wanted to ensure that they were maximizing the functionality of RescueNet® Billing software...

City of Allentown EMS (Allentown EMS) management had a vision for moving to a cloud-based billing solution to support the growing need to...

University Medical Center’s (UMC EMS)service area has been steadily growing, and agency leadership recognized the need for a...

TransCare Medical Transportation Services (TransCare), a division of the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, has a mission “to ensure that no one...

Mutual Aid EMS operates 14 ambulance stations across a 924 square-mile service area. Agency leadership saw tremendous opportunity to...

In a recent webinar, Pasco County Fire and Rescue (PCFR) Fire Marshal, Justin Frum, discussed how his team overcame the challenges...

Telemedicine is becoming standard practice for many healthcare providers. According to Dr. David Ernst, president of telemedicine innovator...

Medical groups are facing unprecedented cost increases as well as lost revenue that can never be recaptured. While many groups focus on...

Many laboratories face financial challenges due to persistent downward pricing pressure, making it essential to capture payment on all...

The staffing crisis prompted by COVID-19 is unlikely to be resolved in the foreseeable future. When key positions can’t be filled in a...

In Emergency Departments (ED) and Intensive Care Units (ICU) in the U.S., more than half of critically ill patients arrive via ambulance....

(7 min read) When providing healthcare services — whether that be in the pre-hospital (EMS) or traditional hospital setting — we are...

In a recent webinar hosted by Healthcare Business Management Association (HBMA), AR optimization expert, Juli Smith, discussed the growing...

Healthcare providers are striving to meet rising demand in their communities but are feeling the burden of prior authorization get heavier....

ZOLL’s largest educational event of the year, ZOLL Summit, brings hundreds of EMS, Fire, and healthcare professionals from all over the...

In a cardiac system of care, STEMI-referring hospitals and STEMI-receiving centers rely on accurate, timely communication and coordination...

This post is Part Three of a three-part series. View Part One | View Part Two. In part one of this three-part article series, we looked at...

This post is Part Two of a three-part series. View Part One |View Part Three. In the previous installment of this three-part article...

This post is Part One of a three-part series. View Part Two |View Part Three One of the areas of ambulance billing that can pose challenges...

Effective communication in emergency medical services provides two-way and real-time capabilities, delivering messages efficiently to and...

(2 min read) As the demand for Medicare Advantage and Medicaid managed care grows, so do the rules and regulations — which means more...

(2 min read) Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASCs) do an exceptional job of collecting patient deductibles, co-pays, and other patient...

The effects of a cyberattack on an EMS agency, software vendor, or third-party billing company can be devastating. In 2021, information is...

If you currently outsource your billing and collections functions and are considering bringing them in-house, you’ll want to assess whether...

(2 min read) The current emergency medical services (EMS) economic model follows a pay-per-transport system. Insurance agencies and...

Co-Written by Mike McKevitt, Director, Product Management

(3 min read) In recent years, the healthcare industry has seen a rise in high-deductible insurance plans. In 2020 47% of covered workers...

(4 min read) Dispatch protocols are critical for complying with Medicare rules and maximizing legitimate reimbursement from the largest...

(9 min read) Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, a communications center worker answered an emergency call from a caller who relayed...

(2 min read) The COVID-19 lockdown caused a rapid drop-off in routine labs and specialty testing. Even those that were processing COVID...

(3 min read) During the 2021 ZOLL Summit Series ePCR & Fire event, quality assurance analyst and clinical educator, Jason Haag, spoke about

(4 min read) Emergency Medical Service (EMS) documentation continues to be one of the most vexing challenges for EMS practitioners and...

(5 min read) If you learn to leverage the custom reports function for your ePCR system, you can stay focused on critical issues while...

(3 min read) Large, unexpected medical bills are increasingly at the forefront of patients' minds. Surprise billing situations occur when a...

(6 min read) EMS 3.0 introduced the concept of transforming the Emergency Medical Services industry from emergency response and transport...

(2 min read) Data science made advances toward artificial intelligence (AI) for years, which encouraged scientists to believe the dream of...

The Evolution of NEMSIS, the National EMS Information System (3 min read) The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) built...

N.Y. State 2022 CME Recertification Requirements Signal Shift Toward ePCR

Misconceptions About HIPAA Have Created an Artificial Barrier to Bi-directional Data Sharing Between EMS and Hospitals

(6 min read) Non-emergency medical transport (NEMT) is a growing, multi-billion-dollar industry. According to Frost & Sullivan, the total...

(5 min read) For many years, EMS agencies and advocacy groups like the American Ambulance Associates (AAA) have been battling for adequate...

(3 min read) Getting reimbursement for ambulance transport from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) can be challenging. For...

(4 min read) Technology is transforming how the healthcare industry manages revenue, reimbursements. Claims processing is central to any...

(3 min read) The lay of the land in EMS billing used to be “Zero Day Billing.” This meant that emergency medical service (EMS) agencies...

(6 min read) Billing for emergency medical services (EMS) is tricky in the best of circumstances. In emergent situations, patients may or...

(3 min read) The ZOLL Pulse Awards, first launched at the 2017 ZOLL Summit, recognizes professionals who improve operational efficiencies...

(5 min read) There are many reasons that business applications are moving to the cloud, or Software as a Service (SaaS) model. One of the...

(5 min read) The ZOLL Pulse Awards, first launched at the 2017 ZOLL Summit, recognizes professionals who improve operational efficiencies...

(6 min read) When was the last time you heard your field-level providers talking about unit hour utilization (UHU), time on task, and other...

(2 min read) The COVID-19 pandemic has made it more important than ever for EMS agency billers and managers to conduct their annual reviews...

(2 min read) “One overarching thing I think that we are struggling with today as healthcare providers is payment uncertainty. We really...

Co-written by Scott A. Moore, Esq., Principal, Moore EMS Consulting LLC A Critical Look at How Common KPIs Are Being Used (or Misused) by...

In the unfortunate event that you or a loved one is transported by ambulance to a hospital for emergency care, wouldn’t you want the...

Co-written By Juli Smith, Director, ZOLL Data Systems

(3 min read) When it comes to billing and revenue cycle management (RCM) services, as an industry, we have been doing the same things for...

(3 min read) In March 2021, Greg Howard, Director of National Interoperability Sales at ZOLL Medical Corporation, and Mario Sanchez, ...

(7 min read) As consumers, where do you and your families interact with cloud-based software? For many consumers, it started with taxes. ...

(4 min read) When a patient checks in to see a new healthcare provider, there is the inevitable package of new patient paperwork. Along...

Gaps in demographic and insurance information are commonplace. Patients are often mislabeled as self-pay despite the presence of billable...

(2 min read) In 2019, almost 50% of all insured individuals were insured through employer sponsored plans. The COVID-19 pandemic caused the

(5 min read) Hospitals, emergency medical services (EMS) agencies, and other healthcare providers need accurate, complete, and reliable...

Juli Forde, Director of Strategic Partnerships, AR Optimization at ZOLL® Data Systems partnered with Jonathan Wiik, Principal, Healthcare...

(7 min read) Have you ever lost your glasses only to find them on top of your head? The habit of putting them there has become so routine,...

Co-written by Scott A. Moore, Esq., Principal, Moore EMS Consulting LLC A Critical Look at How Common KPIs Are Being Used (or Misused) by...

Long shifts, low pay, and repeated, vicarious traumas are givens for paramedics and other EMS professionals. Enduring the physical and...

Step into any dispatch communications center, and you’ll witness a familiar buzz of activity which, to the untrained eye, can look like...

In August 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the proposed Medicare annual payment rule for 2021. This rule...

In 2020, emergency department volume reductions and an increase in uninsured patients have caused financial ripple effects through the...

In an effort to maintain or increase patient volume and reduce collections costs, physician groups increasingly are offering substantial...

With thousands of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) agencies throughout the U.S., there are inevitably hundreds or even thousands of...

New National Data Reporting Elements for Improving Patient Care and Driving Evidence-based Progress in EMS’ Role in the Healthcare Ecosystem

The proposed Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) for 2021 increases reimbursement for office and outpatient E/M codes and thereby reduces the...

The American Medical Association (AMA) and many other organizations are actively advocating for continued support of telehealth...

Co-written by Scott A. Moore, Esq., Principal, Moore EMS Consulting LLC

From COVID-19 hot spots to opioid overdoses, EMS agencies must evaluate community health data in new ways and more frequently than ever...

Everywhere I go, ambulance providers, billing companies, and billers ask, “Why do patients think that ambulance service is free?” Across...

Misconceptions About HIPAA Have Created an Artificial Barrier to Bi-directional Data Sharing Between EMS and Hospitals

Like all other providers in the healthcare ecosystem, emergency medical services (EMS) agencies have been impacted in many ways by the...

Undoubtedly, things have changed as a result of COVID-19. What were once accepted practices are no longer sufficient. EMS agencies must...

N.Y. State 2022 CME Recertification Requirements Signal Shift Toward ePCR

(6 min read) Today, healthcare providers are under increased pressure to ensure a positive patient journey - one that prioritizes the ...

(2 min read) In April 2020,the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) conducted a survey to assess the early impact...

(2 min read) Most healthcare providers report offering patient payment plans. The plans are popular; approximately half of consumers state...

How Efforts at the State Level Are Blazing the Trail for Community Paramedicine Reimbursement

Is Now the Time to Re-engineer the EMS Billing Process?

(8 min read) In early 2020, the concept of the novel coronavirus was nothing more than a whisper in New Jersey EMS agencies. It was...

(8 min read) 2020 has been an interesting year, and at the time of this writing, it’s only September. I am sure the word of the year will...

(6 min read) Without a doubt, COVID-19 has presented EMS agencies with multiple challenges that collectively are some of the most...

In a recent report by HIMSS Healthcare IT News, five healthcare revenue cycle technology experts offer perspectives on best practices for...

In early April, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) announced that a portion of the $100 billion CARES Act Provider Relief...

(4 min read) Several recent cases have shown that the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the...

(5 min read)

Your ePCR is a vast repository of data. So, what are you going to do with it?

Co-Written by Mike McKevitt, Director, Product Management

(7 min read) Consider this scenario: a child enters the hospital emergency department with a broken collar bone, sustained while at play....

Broad HHS Guidance Covers Coronavirus Response and Lost Revenue

Proven Best Practices and Solutions to Effectively Mine Past Accounts Receivable (5 min read) Amid COVID-19, hospitals and providers alike...

2020 NASEMSO Survey Reflects Evolution of EMS Industry

By Maggie Adams

Written By: Juli Forde (3 min read) As healthcare providers continue to manage unprecedented challenges during the COVID-19 crisis, making...

Unanticipated situations like the COVID-19 crisis present significant revenue challenges for healthcare providers. The path forward can be...

Data security is on everyone’s mind in this age of cyber criminals, malware, and ransomware. Nowhere is this truer than in the healthcare...

(3 min read) Using your software tools to maximize billing efforts during these difficult times may not be top of mind right now, but I...

With COVID-19 cases on the rise, first responders must address a new set of concerns relating to patient care and crew safety. The CDC has...

A look at where we’ve used data in the past and how we’re using it now to improve performance in the prehospital and in-hospital settings.

Written By: Ryan Stark

Written by: Maggie Adams (3 min read) Self-pay accounts are an ongoing frustration for billing departments. The best billing system can’t...

“The only constant is change,” paraphrasing the ancient Greek philosopher, Heraclitus. In the world of technological and engineering...

(4 min read) On January 1, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) made the formal shift to the use of Medicare...

(4 min read) It’s no secret that being paid for the service you provide is the goal for most ambulance systems. After all, reimbursement is...

(3 min read) We had a fantastic lineup of speakers at SUMMIT 2019. While we get ready to announce our speakers for 2020, we wanted to look...

(6 min read) Medicare usually pays the largest portion of ambulance claims. But when viewing medical transportation - ambulance combined...

(4 min read) CQI involves more than just checking reports to make sure that the “red” went away, it’s a continuous process focusing on...

(4 min read) As we head into 2020, it is a good time to get a check-up. I’m not talking about a trip to your doctor, I’m suggesting a...

ZOLL is excited to announce our keynote speaker lineup for SUMMIT 2020! The three-day event, scheduled for June 9-11 at the Sheraton in...

(2 min read) EMS agencies are very attractive targets for cybercriminals. But, there are easy steps you can take to better protect your...

We’re used to hearing about ‘interoperability’ in terms of communications, but how about its use in information exchange?

What response times can tell us (if we gather the data accurately) (5 min read) Nine minutes or less, 90% of the time – or whatever...

(3 min read) When people hear the phrase “revenue cycle,” words like "billing," "collections," and "payment" typically come to mind. While...

(7 min read) The most common question I get is, “Why do our accounts receivable keep growing?” Problems with unpaid claims, denied...

(5 Min Read) Let's face it, a one hour of discussion about threatening lawsuits or a courtroom credibility shredding during someone's...

(6 min read) Co-Written by Logan Sullivan and Rabecca Sembrat We continue to see research showing that Millennials are the most educated...

(4 min read) Dispatch is an area that seems to generate a lot of misunderstandings and confusion, especially as it relates to Medicare...

Audits sometimes get the reputation of being a bad thing or a dirty word. But an audit, whether you’re doing it yourself, hiring someone to...

How Chris Davison of Tucson Fire tackles challenges and optimizes for efficiency (6 min read) Chris Davison has been the Ambulance Billing...

(4 min read) EMS workers carry heavy responsibility time and time again—on a daily basis. Every mile of ambulance operations, their eyes...

Fitting the pieces together for an overall picture of health (7 min read) Over the past few years, the focus of EMS research, best...

(4 min read) He fires the flaming arrow into the void of darkness inside the cave before him. Hercules was not generally considered a weak...

(4 min read) At this year’s ZOLL Summit conference, I presented a session on the pros and cons of e-pcr systems. This session covered...

(5 min read) Our firm has been doing on-site HIPAA audits for over 15 years now and one of the most popular questions we get is: “What are...

(6 min read) Take a moment and reflect on two very fundamental questions you should ask yourself as a leader in EMS. First, why did you get...

(6 min read) A few months back I was assisting an organization in their efforts to increase employee engagement and satisfaction. A dirty...

(4 min read) Got room in your budget to pay off a $750,000 settlement simply for not having an up-to-date Business Associate Agreement...

(6 min read) As pre-hospital providers airway management (basic or advanced) should be our bread and butter. After all, our lives and very...

(4 min read) Firefighters’ concerns have changed rapidly over the past decade. We have always been focused on our personal readiness and...

(3 min read) The sheep-skin strap covers may “look cute and seem soft”, but a Georgia mother now cautions the use of aftermarket products...

(3 min read) EMS is an evolving profession. We are constantly changing our practices and procedures to meet the demands of an ever-changing...

(5 min read) There is no debating the fact that responder PTSD and suicide has become an epidemic. It seems we cannot visit any of the...

(4 min read) When I was a new EMT all I wanted to do was work on the ambulance answering calls with my friends. So much so that I had three...

(5 min read) After attending King County Resuscitation Academy, Cosumnes Fire started to use the data provided by the ZOLL X series and...

(4 min read) Steve Myers has been with Mobile Medical Reponse (MMR) for 23 years. He’s the resident Crystal Reports expert in the company,...

(4 min read) Part 2. If you missed Part 1, you can read it here.