On-Demand: Measuring (& Improving) What Matters

For decades, EMS has excelled at measuring activity – response times, transport volume, and operational statistics – but increasingly, healthcare is asking a more important question: Did the care we provided actually improve the patient’s outcome?

This session explored how progressive EMS agencies are shifting from measuring what is easy to measuring what truly matters.

Panelists examined meaningful clinical, operational, and patient-centered performance measures, including emergency department and inpatient outcomes, time-critical interventions, patient experience, and community paramedicine results.

Using real-world examples from emergency medical dispatch, cardiac arrest, sepsis, stroke, and Mobile Integrated Healthcare programs, the panelists demonstrated how to build an evidence-based quality improvement program, eliminate “vanity metrics,” and leverage artificial intelligence to identify trends, prioritize improvement opportunities, and enhance patient care.

Learning Objectives

1. Identify evidence-based EMS performance measures that are linked to meaningful patient, operational, and healthcare system outcomes, while distinguishing them from low-value “vanity metrics.”
2. Describe practical approaches for measuring quality across the continuum of care, including emergency medical dispatch, time-sensitive emergencies, patient experience, and community paramedicine programs.
3. Explain how data analytics and artificial intelligence can strengthen EMS quality assurance and quality improvement programs by identifying performance trends, supporting clinical decision-making, and guiding targeted system improvements.

Click here to download the webinar handout, including the NAAC CE Certificate.

Click here to watch the webinar recording.

Panelists:

Danielle Geronimo, BA, AS, NRP, is a Quality Assurance/Quality Improvement (QA/QI) Manager for the Richmond Ambulance Authority (RAA), where she leads clinical quality initiatives focused on performance improvement, provider education, documentation excellence, and the delivery of high-quality prehospital patient care. Since beginning her EMS career in 2011, Danielle has developed extensive experience in 911 EMS, field training, and operations leadership. After joining RAA as a Paramedic in 2017, she spent nine years in Field Operations, including six years in leadership roles as Lieutenant and Captain, where she supervised field personnel, mentored providers, and helped lead daily EMS operations. In April 2026, she transitioned to RAA’s Clinical Department, where she partners with providers to advance evidence-based quality improvement, strengthen clinical documentation, and support continuous professional development through data-informed feedback and performance review. Throughout her tenure at RAA, Danielle has been recognized for her commitment to excellence, receiving both the “Operations Employee of the Year” and “Paramedic of the Year” awards. She is committed to fostering a culture of clinical excellence, accountability, and continuous improvement that enhances patient outcomes and organizational performance.

Dimitra Tsaklanos-Geraghty, MS, EMTP, AEMD, is the Community Paramedic Program Manager at Northwell Health, where she leads system-wide EMS integration, quality and performance improvement initiatives, and the development of innovative Mobile Integrated Health programs focused on reducing emergency department utilization, improving patient outcomes, and advancing care coordination across diverse populations. With more than a decade of experience spanning 911 paramedicine, critical care transport, transfer center operations, EMS communications, and program leadership, she brings a comprehensive clinical, operational, and quality-focused perspective to the evolving landscape of community paramedicine and prehospital medicine. She manages Northwell Health’s CARES (Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival) program, leveraging data-driven quality improvement strategies to benchmark outcomes and identify system-level opportunities for improvement across EMS operations. Her research, presented at national conferences including NAEMSP and IAED, has examined community paramedicine transport decision-making, virtual acute care models, and evidence-based EMS response strategies, contributing to the growing body of literature supporting high-value care delivery in the home.

Elizabeth Quellhorst, MHA, CCEMTP, NRP, AEMD is the Director of Operations and Quality for Northwell Health Center for Emergency Medical Services, where she leads operational excellence, quality assurance and improvement initiatives, accreditation efforts, and system-wide performance measurement strategies. With more than 25 years of experience spanning 911 EMS operations, community paramedicine, trauma systems, mobile healthcare programs, and healthcare administration, she brings a comprehensive clinical, operational, and quality-focused perspective to advancing prehospital care. Throughout her career, Elizabeth has led evidence-based performance improvement initiatives focused on patient safety, clinical outcomes, patient experience, regulatory compliance, and workforce development, while fostering a culture of continuous quality improvement. She is a published author whose research on reducing door-in to door-out times for patients requiring mechanical thrombectomy demonstrated the impact of process improvement on time-critical stroke care, and she is passionate about leveraging data analytics, meaningful performance measures, and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, to improve patient outcomes across the continuum of care.