911 Emergency Services
Addressing challenges faced by Chatham Emergency Medical Services through an innovative solution called "MedLife" - a platform enabling community engagement, patient education, and paid consultations with paramedics/EMTs, generating revenue to sustain efficient emergency care.
Contributors: Conrad. T . Kearns, Chatham ES & Staff, Rob Lawrence, Kate Elkins (NHTSA)
September 2023 - March 2024
Project Summary
The project aims to address the critical challenges faced by Chatham Emergency Medical Services (EMS), a privately funded ambulance agency serving Chatham County. By leveraging innovative approaches, the project seeks to mitigate the issues of insufficient funding, staff shortages, and complex working conditions that hinder the agency's ability to provide efficient emergency care. Through the implementation of a comprehensive solution, "MedLife," the project aims to establish a platform that facilitates community engagement, educates the public on emergency services, and enables patients to consult with paramedics and EMTs outside of 911 calls, thereby generating an additional revenue stream. The ultimate goal is to empower Chatham EMS to deliver sustainable, high-quality services, bridging the gap between emergency responders and the community they serve.
Quick Selection
In a 911 Emergency
There are five key phases in this Journey:
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911 Call
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Ambulance Arrival
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Emergency Room Treatment
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Recovery and Discharge
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Payment
Chatham Emergency Services
Privately funded, Independent emergency medical services provider serving Chatham County, North Carolina. They offer pre-hospital emergency medical care and transport services to the residents of Chatham County. They provide:
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Ambulance services
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Fire services
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Inter-facility Transport services
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Outreach programs
Chatham ES is a Large Agency
18 Stations
2024
~ 400 Personals
2023
~200 Call/day
2024
Current Service Blueprint
From the service blueprint, it can observed that a lot of the important process goes on in the back end which is invisible to patients which mask the value.
Service Blueprint of Chatham EMS
14th March 2024
Research Methods
Secondary Research
2024
Contextual &
In-depth Interviews
N=7
Surveys
N=60
Problem Statement
Private EMS/Ambulance agencies all across US are shutting down due to insufficient funding and shortage of staff, creating ambulance deserts which leads to longer wait times.
Insights & Opportunity
Patients don’t see the value in services provided by ambulance agencies because insurance companies mask the real value.
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Patients pay a certain deductible once or twice a year for coverage and reduction of medical costs.
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Patients with chronic diseases need a yearly health checkup to keep their insurance plan.
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Patients complain about their ambulance ride bill being expensive.
Patients are not aware of their insurance plan benefits and limitations
Patients trust urgent care centers in their neighborhoods because they provide consistency in terms of medical costs and quality of treatment.
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Patients complain about their medical bills being expensive.
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Patients prefer to visit the urgent care centers in their neighborhood.
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Patients are satisfied by the quality of treatment & care provided by the knowledge staff of ambulance agencies.
Patients trust the services they have used more than once or repeatedly.
The system is designed in a way where Ambulance services have to depend on other organizations to be viable & profitable businesses.
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Ambulance services need to be interoperable within the EMS due to the lack of a national system. ( “If you have seen EMS system, then you only seen EMS system”)
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Chatham ES doesn't get paid if the patients refuse to be admitted to Emergency Rooms.
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Ambulance agencies can only be communicated to the 911 Call center.
Privately run Ambulance agencies are not supervised or funded by the government so they don’t have to run like government-funded ambulance services.
Solution
MedLife
MetLife is a platform for the public living in Chatham to access the services provided by Emergency Medical Services and communicate medical queries or advice.
Touchpoint
Chatham currently provides educational material as part of their Outreach program to educate the public at churches schools and communities about 911 emergencies.
Discovery of Medlife Service through Educational Material
New Platform
On the other side of the platform, Paramedics will also have an app for them to communicate with patients while they are active on their job.
EMTs view
Logs
Patient Details
Video Call
Patients will sign up on the website. They will also join video call without the app.
Patient View
Registeration
Video Call Link
Emergency Form in App
Patients who have downloaded the app can use their phone to transfer information from Vial of Life and File of Life using NFC.
Activation EMS Form
Emergency Mode
Process
Pain Points
Patient
Patient experienced a long wait times for ambulances
Patients found the ambulance services expensive for one ambulance ride
Why?
Chatham EMS staff
Chatham EMS are facing a shortage of Staff such as EMTs, Paramedics, etc.
Ambulance agencies across the USA are not recognized as an essential service in 39 out of 50 states
Complex working situations make it difficult for EMTs & Paramedics to operate.
Chatham ES agencies are not reimbursed by insurance companies due to insufficient coverage for EMS expenses.
Chatham ES doesn't get paid if the patients refuse to be admitted to Emergency Rooms.
Root Causes
Patients lack of awareness on when to call 911 services leadign to unexpected bills.
Lacking a stable source of revenue cause ambulance services to depend on insurance reimbursement and sending private bills to patient.
Public doesn't trust their ambulance services due inconsistency of their bills and lack awareness.
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Current Ecosystem Map
This map shows the current system of Chatham ES and helps target each thread to predict the chain effects of the interventions.
14th March 2024
3 Interventions
Three interventions to target specific problems within the system are derived from the root causes.
Education
Chatham EMS has patient Outreach programs that can be improved upon to educate people about 911 emergencies.
New Service
Patients complain that seeing an ER doctor is expensive and time-consuming. A new service to contact EMTs/Paramedics for medical advise can be possible..
Build Trust
Patients can get information for non-emergent situations and reduce the burden on ambulance and 911. This service can help build trust with the communities.
New Journey Map
In non-emergent cases the patient will be direct to 311 center who will connect the patient to EMTs/Paramedics. The pain points related to ambulance is eliminated and medical bills are reduced.
New Service Blueprint
Bulk of information transfer is eliminated and patient pay as per their expectations. A new source of funding is added to the ambulance agencies.
Service Blueprint of Chatham EMS
21st April 2024
Future State Ecosystem Map
The new map shows indicates the change of roles for ambulance teams and their competition with telemedicine for medical advice.
21st April 2024
