2003
EMSA
Annual
Report
Emergency Medical Ser vices Authority
EMSA
About EMSA
The Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) is
Oklahoma’s largest provider of advanced life support pre-hospital
emergency care. Founded in 1978, EMSA is the sole provider of
ambulance service for more than one million people in the
Greater Tulsa and Oklahoma City areas. EMSA’s purpose is simple
but critical – we preserve and improve human life by bringing
superlative emergency medical care to those we serve.
EMSA is an independent trust authority, an extension of the City
of Tulsa and City of Oklahoma City governments. EMSA contracts
with a private service, Paramedics Plus, that employs medics who
provide patient care and dispatching; employees of the authority
conduct billing and accounting functions, manage community
relations and customer service initiatives, purchase equipment
and services, and manage the system. The independent Office of
the Medical Director develops and monitors medical protocols
followed by EMSA and its first responder agencies.
Core Values
EMSA and Paramedics Plus utilize the STAR CARE ideology,
described below, to ensure that our decisions and actions help
us achieve our mission of caring.
Safe
We rate as our top priority the safety of patients, colleagues,
the public and ourselves.
Team-based
We work as a team, taking the feelings and opinions of others
into account.
Attentive to human needs
We see beyond patients’ injuries and illnesses to recognize
individuals and respond to their unique needs and
preferences.
Respectful
We treat patients, colleagues and others with respect and dignity.
EMSA’s Partner in Care: Paramedics Plus
In November 1998, EMSA selected Paramedics Plus to serve as
its partner in care in both the greater Oklahoma City and Tulsa
areas. The original contract, set to expire in November 2003, was
extended this fiscal year to run through November 2008.
Owned by the esteemed East Texas Medical Center, Paramedics
Plus utilizes the talents of nearly 400 highly-trained paramedics,
EMTs and support personnel to serve Oklahomans’ healthcare
needs and exceed EMSA contract requirements. Paramedics Plus
attracts some of the nation’s most highly-skilled medics by
providing fair and comprehensive compensation, continuing
education and opportunities for career advancement.
Customer-accountable
We follow strict protocols and procedures designed to
guarantee the best possible outcomes and experiences for
those we serve.
Appropriate
We make decisions that best satisfy medical, legal and
professional concerns.
Reasonable
We make sensible, rational, evidence-based decisions.
Ethical
We are fair, honest and forthright.
EMSA Administration
H. Stephen Williamson
President and Chief Executive Officer
EMSA Board of Trustees
Members of the EMSA Board of Trustees are appointed by the
Tulsa and Oklahoma City mayors. The trustees meet monthly.
Ann Singer
Senior Vice President
Chairman
Guy Liebmann
City Councilor, City of Oklahoma City
Elizabeth Claxton
Vice President
Kent Torrence
Chief Financial Officer
John Sacra, MD
Medical Director
Clay Bird
Chief Officer for Policy and Development, City of Tulsa
Patty Ferree
Vice-Mayor, City of Bixby
Joe M. Hodges
Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer,
St. Anthony Hospital
Dr. Shirley Johnston-Horn
President, Oklahoma Home Health
Jim Kendrick
Chief Operating Officer, Tulsa Regional Medical Center
Lawrence McAtee Jr.
City Councilor, City of Oklahoma City
Lillian Perryman
Director of Emergency Services, Integris Health
Larry Stevens
City Manager, Edmond
Adolph Williams, DDS
Dentist, Tulsa
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REVIEW
The Year In Review
Call/Transport Volume
During FY 2003, EMSA responded to 109,949 calls and
completed 72,731 patient transports.
Response Times
EMSA adheres to one of the nation’s strictest response time
requirements in order to give our patients the best odds for recovery.
For priority one calls – cardiac arrests, serious car accidents and
other life-threatening emergencies – in Tulsa and the Western
Division, we’re contractually obligated to be wherever the patient
is within 9 minutes, 90 percent of the time. In Jenks, Bixby and
Sand Springs, we must respond to priority-one calls in less than
12 minutes. We are obligated to respond to all priority two calls
(non-life threatening emergencies) in under 13 minutes. Response
time is measured from the moment a dispatcher answers the call to
the time the ambulance arrives on scene.
Average response times include all emergency (priority one and
two) calls.
Patient Payer Mix
Based on on
FY 2003 billings.
MORE
Getting More For Less
EMSA is funded primarily through users’ fees. The EMSA model
ensures that individuals who utilize our service – not all taxpayers
in the community – carry most of the financial burden for supporting
our operations.
Many other EMS providers rely on large taxpayer subsidies to
support their operations – meaning that everyone in the
community, regardless of whether they have been transported by
an ambulance, pays heavily to support the system.
EMSA Revenue Sources
Per Capita
Taxpayer
Subsidies
Even with a smaller subsidy, EMSA exceeds the service
standards of many other providers.
Why does EMSA’s Western Division receive a larger
per capita subsidy than the Eastern Division?
The short answer is, it’s much more difficult and expensive
to operate in the Western Division. EMSA’s Western Division is
nearly three times as large geographically as the Eastern
Division (695.49 square miles vs. 240.63 square miles).
Maintaining response times in the Western Division requires
EMSA to post more ambulances throughout the city, and doing
that costs more money.
4
EXCEEDING
Exceeding Expectations
Oklahoma Quality Award
In November, the Oklahoma Quality Award Foundation presented
EMSA with its prestigious 2002 Award for Commitment. The award
recognizes Oklahoma companies that stimulate growth and
economic improvement and offer service excellence.
Crystal Award of Excellence
In May, the Communicator Awards presented EMSA and its
Internet development partner with its coveted Crystal Award of
Excellence in recognition of EMSA’s Internet home page
(www.emsaonline.com) design.
“Everything we do – from our strategic planning sessions to
groundbreaking research studies and new investments in technology
– is designed to help EMSA deliver the highest-quality, most costefficient service possible,” says EMSA President H. Stephen
Williamson.
Communicator Awards are presented to companies who talent
exceeds a high standard of excellence and whose work serves as
a benchmark for the industry. Only 12 percent of the 3,730 entries
earned recognition. Other notable Communicator Award winners
include the American Medical Association, the American Cancer
Society, FedEx and Princeton University.
Based on the renowned Malcolm Baldridge National Quality
Award, the Oklahoma Quality Award evaluates companies in the
following categories: leadership, strategic planning, customer and
market focus, information and analysis, human resource focus,
process management and results. Previous winners include
Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, NORDAM, Hilti, the
City of Edmond, The Bama Companies and other leading
businesses. Only three companies earned recognition in November.
Accredited Communications Centers
EMSA’s Oklahoma City and Tulsa Communications Centers
earned continuing accreditation in June 2003 from the National
Academies Emergency Dispatch (NAED). The EMSA Communications
Centers are two of only three emergency medical dispatch centers
in Oklahoma classified as “accredited centers of excellence.”
EMSA’s Communications Centers first received accreditation
in 2000; to be reaccredited, EMSA had to demonstrate strict
compliance with a series of criteria relating to quality improvement, employee certification and other quality indicators.
Just 61 of more than 2,300 communications centers worldwide
have met NAED’s stringent accreditation requirements.
INVESTING
Investing in the Community,
Investing in the Best
Over the past fiscal year, EMSA has invested heavily in state-ofthe-art technology and community outreach programs designed to
increase efficiency, improve patient outcomes and foster a safer,
healthier Oklahoma.
Medusa SIREN System
EMSA went almost-paperless in late fiscal year 2002 when field
crews began carrying portable Medusa SIREN System computer
tablets. Paramedics use touch-screen pads on the tablets to
document patients’ health complaints and injuries, and can
access a wide array of treatment protocols via the system’s
comprehensive database. In fiscal year 2003, EMSA improved its
Medusa proficiency – and gave up paper reports entirely when
refusal-of-care forms were added to the system. Unlike paper
reports, Medusa-generated reports can be completed quickly, may
be viewed on authorized computers almost instantaneously and
are always legible. The system also simplifies oversight and vastly
improves research capabilities.
RightCAD
In August 2002, EMSA began using RightCAD – a state-of-theart computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system that streamlines the
process of getting emergency medical care to those in need.
RightCAD’s dynamic color-coded maps and user-friendly dropdown menus tell dispatchers where ambulances are and where
they are needed. Plus, RightCAD simplifies quality improvement
studies, medical research and account maintenance by storing
the complete history of
each medical call – from
the moment dispatchers
answered the telephone
in the 911 center to the
day payment was received
– in one electronic file.
Backseat Buddies
EMSA’s wildly popular Backseat Buddies
Safety Seat Checkup Project, funded by a grant from
the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office, continued in fiscal year
2003. Each month, specially trained EMSA personnel inspected
cars to ensure children were restrained properly and provided
scores of free child safety seats to families in need. EMSA
checked riding conditions for 2,275 Oklahoma children last year
and gave away 2,187 car seats through Backseat Buddies.
Citizen CPR
Last year, 3,211 Oklahomans received free CPR training through
Citizen CPR, an EMSA-funded, non-profit coalition that offers free
instruction to laypersons in the Tulsa area. EMSA employees, along
with other healthcare workers and public servants, serve on
Citizen CPR’s Board of Directors and volunteer their time and
talent to promote CPR education in Oklahoma.
6
1417 N. Lansing
Tulsa, OK 74106-5906
www.emsaonline.com