Prehospital and Disaster Medicine

Table of Contents - April 2012 - Volume 27, Issue 02  

Editorial

Value Generation and Health Reform in Emergency Medical Services

Marc-David Munka1 c1

a1 Office of Quality and Patient Safety, University of New Mexico Hospitals and Department of Emergency Medicine, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, New Mexico USA

Abstract

American Emergency Medical Services (EMS) agencies largely have been untouched by the dramatic health care reform efforts underway, although change seems imminent. Clarifying the role of the modern EMS system, and the yardsticks used to evaluate its performance, will be a challenge.

This paper introduces the concept of value (or outcomes to cost ratio) in EMS, and offers value assessment as a means by which reform decisions can be framed. The best reform decisions are those that optimize both costs and outcomes. This includes: (1) attention to the patient experience; (2) disallowing the provision of unhelpful, harmful or disproven prehospital care; and (3) expanding patient dispositions beyond Emergency Departments. Costs of care will need to be tracked carefully and acknowledged. Value generation should serve as the goal of ongoing EMS reform efforts.

Munk MD. Value generation and health reform in emergency medical services. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2012;27(2):1-4.

(Received January 27 2012)

(Accepted March 25 2012)

Keywords

Correspondence:

c1 Correspondence: Marc-David Munk, MD, MPH University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center 1 University of New Mexico MSC08 4620 Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131 USA E-mail MMunk@salud.unm.edu

Footnotes

Conflicts of interest: None