New from AIMHI: Lessons Learned from EMS System Transitions
EMS systems are changing.
Communities are reconsidering how ambulance services are delivered, who should provide them, how they should be funded, and what happens when a longstanding delivery model changes.
And, as it turns out, changing an EMS system is a little more complicated than moving some ambulances around on an organizational chart.
AIMHI is pleased to release a new series of resources examining real-world EMS system transitions and the lessons communities, EMS leaders, elected officials, and policymakers can learn from them.
The AIMHI EMS System Transition Review Initiative takes an independent look at three communities that transitioned ambulance service delivery models. The analyses examine what drove the decisions, what assumptions were made, what happened after implementation, and, perhaps most importantly, what others can learn from the experience.
The newly released resources include:
A Tale of Three Cities: Public Policy Lessons in Ambulance Service Transitions
EMS System Transition Analysis – Executive Summary
Independent community case studies and supporting analyses
Across the three communities, several common themes emerged: the importance of realistic financial and operational assumptions, establishing meaningful performance measures, understanding the true cost of ambulance service delivery, planning for workforce and deployment needs, and evaluating whether the anticipated benefits of a transition actually materialized.
The goal of this initiative is not to advocate for one EMS delivery model over another. There is no universal “right” model for every community.
Instead, AIMHI hopes these resources will help communities ask better questions, conduct more informed analyses, and make decisions based on measurable outcomes rather than assumptions.
Because when it comes to redesigning an EMS system, “we’ll figure that part out later” probably shouldn’t be part of the implementation plan.
We invite EMS leaders, local government officials, policymakers, consultants, and other stakeholders to review and share these resources.
Read the EMS System Transition Review Initiative and download the reports here: https://aimhi.mobi/aimhi-system-transition-analysis-project/
We hope these analyses contribute to thoughtful conversations about how communities can design EMS systems that are clinically effective, operationally sustainable, financially responsible, and responsive to the people they serve.