ESO Predicts Key EMS Trends for 2023

January 26, 2023 – Austin, Texas – ESO, the leading data and software company serving emergency medical services (EMS), fire departments, hospitals, state and federal agencies, today shared the trends it predicts will have the most impact on emergency medical services (EMS) in 2023: applicant pools will decrease; mobile integrated health will play a bigger role in patient care;  clinical innovations will resurface in 2023; technology and data will drive improved patient outcomes.

“COVID-19 pulled EMS clinicians in many different directions, but in 2023 we may begin to see clinical innovations resurface as providers look at ways to improve patient care and outcomes,” said Dr. Brent Myers, Chief Medical Officer ESO. “This is already playing out across the U.S. as EMS organizations innovate on things like implementing whole blood usage in their communities and adopt evidence-based approaches regarding alternative responses as well virtual and non-hospital destinations for the variety of patients we are encountering in the post-pandemic era.”

Key EMS Predictions for 2023:

• Applicant pools will decrease while pandemic pressures persist:
  Staffing concerns will continue to be an issue for agencies in 2023.  Smaller applicant pools will mean greater competition amongst organizations to hire (and keep) qualified clinicians. Additionally, to hire candidates quickly, some agencies will offer large signing bonuses at the expense of the agency, skewing the organizational economics with higher costs and no additional revenue. Also consider the following, signing bonuses for new employees may lead to retention issues for current employees – further exacerbating the problem.
• Mobile integrated health will play a much bigger role in patient care:
  With staffing issues continuing to be a challenge in 2023, we are seeing an increase in community paramedicine initiatives to better match patients with appropriate resources and decrease responses and hospital transports where appropriate. However, while models of success continue to occur in isolated pockets, the events of the Public Health Emergency and post-pandemic planning offer an opportunity for more sustainable, widespread solutions. The most important consideration for successful mobile-integrated health programs is the funding structure. There is a need for the bigger private payers (in addition to Medicare and Medicaid) to play a larger role when it comes to novel funding mechanisms to support transport to alternate destinations, use of telemedicine, and in-home care.
• EMS providers will fill critical healthcare gaps through clinical innovations:
  Throughout COVID-19 in 2020, 2021, and early 2022, clinical innovation was focused on the pandemic as agencies provided care and support to their communities, as well as provider safety and well-being. In 2023, we will see a return to broader clinical innovation as the role of EMS evolves. One clinical topic garnering discussion across the industry is the use of whole blood in the field versus blood components. Additionally, EMS will take on a greater role when it comes to patients experiencing overdoses, including offering patient recovery programs and identifying hotspots in the community to create proactive programs versus being reactive. EMS will continue to also fill the gap in the mental healthcare system, especially for patients affected by social determinants of health – like food deserts, housing inequality, and more.
• Technology and data will drive improved patient outcomes:
  Hospital outcome data will continue to be essential for improved patient care across the healthcare spectrum. As more hospital systems and EMS agencies leverage state-of-the-art technology to share data and insights across the entire patient journey – from 911 call to hospital disposition – will drive clinical, operational, and quality changes that will see health and safety improvements for both patients and providers. Example of this include episodic data meshing getting better, but challenges remain for linking patients across encounter and places where they receive care.

Download the 2023 EMS Predictions white paper here.

About ESO
ESO (ESO Solutions) is dedicated to improving community health and safety through the power of data. Since its founding in 2004, the company continues to pioneer innovative, user-friendly software to meet the changing needs of today’s EMS agencies, fire departments, hospitals, and state EMS offices. ESO currently serves thousands of customers throughout North America with a broad software portfolio, including the industry-leading ESO Electronic Health Record (EHR), the next generation ePCR; ESO Health Data Exchange (HDE), the first-of-its-kind healthcare interoperability platform; ESO Fire RMS, the modern fire Record Management System; trauma, burn and stroke registry software; and ESO State Repository. ESO is headquartered in Austin, Texas. For more information, visit www.eso.com.

Media Contact:

Andy Prince

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(512) 289-4728