ANNUAL REPORT 2024
Table of Contents
Introduction to NEMSIS
What is NEMSIS?
National EMS Database
Public Data
National Data Standard
Data Quality
Overview
EMS Response Characteristics
Clinical Data
Performance Measures (NEMSQA)
Motor Vehicle Crash Dashboard
Introduction to NEMSIS
EMS, Highway Safety, and Post-Crash Care
For more than 50 years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Office of EMS (OEMS) has supported EMS system improvements because the effort to reduce serious injuries and deaths on our country’s streets, roads and highways requires effective EMS and 911 systems.
A primary focus in 2024 has been outreach to federal, state, tribal, territorial, local and private stakeholders focused on educating transportation partners on the benefits of and opportunities for collaboration with EMS and 911 communities.
What is NEMSIS?
NEMSIS is the National Emergency Medical Services Information System supported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Office of Emergency Medical Services (OEMS).
States and territories across the nation voluntarily submit EMS data to the NEMSIS Technical Assistance Center (TAC). The TAC receives the data and stores it in the National EMS Database.
National EMS Database
NEMSIS is the largest publicly available database of prehospital medical care in the United States.
It is an EMS activation registry. One patient may require multiple EMS encounters or transports, and not every EMS response has a patient encounter. While very robust and extensive, the database is not a full census of EMS activations because there are a few counties that do not contribute data.
Public Data
The public dataset is comprised of data elements and values that are made available to the public. States and territories submit some data that are not open to public use without explicit authorization from that state/territory.
The restricted data include geographical identifiers such as incident State, County, ZIP Codes and State EMS Agency Number. No personal health information (PHI) is reflected in the data provided by states.
National Data Standard
NEMSIS is responsible for establishing and maintaining a National EMS Data Standard through extensive collaboration with industry stakeholders. State/territory EMS data managers, EMS software vendors, clinicians, billers, researchers and national partners all contribute to the development of and updates to the data standard.
Data elements represented in the standard are identified as National, State, Optional, and Custom. Only National data elements are submitted to the NEMSIS TAC for inclusion in the National EMS Database.
Data Quality
Much care is taken to ensure that national NEMSIS data are as clean as possible. All data collected by EMS clinicians are exposed to several hundred error checking rules at the time of data entry, and again when data are submitted to the state and national repositories.
Any data errors that remain when data are submitted to the national repository are reported back to states and agencies on a weekly basis. Corrected data can be resubmitted to state and national repositories and will automatically update existing records.
Overview
Total Number of Activations
An EMS activation is an occurrence which initiates an EMS response with the potential of patient contact.
This is also referred to as an EMS “call” or “run”. An activation can include: 911 calls, critical care transports,
interfacility transports, standby events, or scheduled medical transports. The data are reflected as the number of
activations instead of the number of patients because there can be more than one activation per patient per call.
Inclusion criteria: 911 initiated and patient contact was made. Values that were marked Not Applicable or Not Recorded are removed.
National | State |
60,298,684 | |
Race and Ethnicity of Patients
ePatient.14 - Patients can indicate more than one race.
The patient’s race as defined by the OMB (US Office of Management and Budget).
OMB requirements are provided at: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-15-089.html
Age Distribution of Patients
ePatient.15 - The patient’s age (either calculated from date of birth or best approximation).
US Census Division of EMS Activations
eScene.23 - The census tract in which the incident occurred.
EMS Response Characteristics
Type of Service Requested
eResponse.05 - The type of service or category of service initiated of the EMS Agency responding for this specific EMS event.
Type of Destination
eDisposition.21 - The type of destination to which the patient was transported or transferred.
Transport Mode from Scene
eResponse.23 - The indication whether the response was emergent or non-emergent. An emergent response is an immediate response as determined by local or state protocols.
Provider Level of Care
eDisposition.32 - The level of care (BLS or ALS) the unit is able to provide based on the units’ treatment capabilities for this EMS response.
Clinical Data
Top 20 Medications Administered
eMedication.03 - Medication given. List of medications based on RxNorm (RXCUI) codes.
Top 20 Causes of Injury
eInjury.01 - The reported/suspected external cause of the injury. Based on ICD-10 codes.
Performance Measures (NEMSQA)
NEMSQA
The National EMS Quality Alliance (NEMSQA) maintains a set of EMS performance measures, including measures that were originally developed by the EMS Compass initiative, to support measurement and improvement in the quality of EMS care at the local, regional, state, and national levels. Some NEMSQA performance measures are based on NEMSIS data elements that are available in the national EMS database ("national" elements).
Asthma
Asthma-01: Administration of Beta Agonist for Asthma
National | State |
53% | xx% |
Hypoglycemia
Hypoglycemia-01: Treatment Administered for Hypoglycemia
National | State |
39% | xx% |
Respiratory
Respiratory-01: Respiratory Assessment
National | State |
93% | xx% |
Safety
Safety-01: No use of Lights and Sirens During Response to Scene
National | State |
17% | xx% |
Seizure
Seizure-01: Blood Glucose Evaluation
National | State |
60% | xx% |
Seizure
Seizure-02: Patient with Status Epilepticus Receiving Intervention
National | State |
32% | xx% |
Stroke
Stroke-01: Suspected Stroke Receiving Prehospital Stroke Assessment
National | State |
80% | xx% |
Trauma
Trauma-01: Pain Assessment of Injured Patients
National | State |
74% | xx% |
Trauma
Trauma-02: Effectiveness of Pain Management for Injured Patients
National | State |
21% | xx% |
Trauma
Trauma-08: Documentation of GCS, SBP, and Respiratory Rate
National | State |
93% | xx% |
Motor Vehicle Crash Dashboard
Motor Vehicle Crash Dashboard
The goal of the V3 Motor Vehicle Crash Dashboard is to provide the public and state directors with an overview dashboard using nationally submitted data that allows them to characterize motor vehicle crashes in their state.
National Vehicle Crash Dashboard
State Vehicle Crash Dashboard
Assumptions of EMS Data
Hundreds of thousands of EMS clinicians from every walk of life and demographic, document their patient encounters. There is no single right way to complete a patient care report (PCR) and documentation training is varied.
As such, EMS data are rarely collected in calm, sterile, predictable environments. States, territories, and agencies all impact the methods,requirements and codes used to document EMS response activities. This is why there are many descriptions (or codes) used to describe similar injury or illness characteristics. (See Cause of Injury graphic on page nine for an example of the many methods and requirements used to document a “fall”.)
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ANNUAL REPORT 2024