By Laura French
SAN DIEGO — FirstWatch, a technology and quality improvement company serving public safety and healthcare organizations, has partnered with the National EMS Quality Alliance (NEMSQA) to support its efforts to develop, test and validate quality measures for EMS.
The partnership makes FirstWatch the first industry sponsor of the NEMSQA, which was established in 2019 by EMS stakeholders to develop and endorse evidence-based quality measures, according to a joint press release.
“Both FirstWatch and NEMSQA have similar missions: to achieve better patient outcomes by helping emergency medical services clinicians and organizations measure and improve care,” NEMSQA President Michael Redlener, MD, FAEMS, said in a statement. “Combining FirstWatch’s expertise in using data and implementing improvement efforts with NEMSQA’s evidence-based approach to measure development will ensure that EMS continues to advance as a profession.”
The NEMSQA was created to continue the work of EMS Compass, a federally-funded project led by the National Association of State EMS Officials to bring together EMS professionals and quality experts from around the country to create a process for developing EMS quality measures. FirstWatch Director of Product Development Debbie Gilligan chaired the Technology Developers Group for EMS Compass, and FirstWatch’s past medical director served on the EMS Compass Steering Committee.
“The creation of NEMSQA as a place where the EMS profession comes together and embraces evidence-based quality measures is one of the most exciting developments in my four decades advising EMS systems,” stated FirstWatch Improvement Guide Mike Taigman, who has participated in meetings of the NEMSQA Testing and Learning Workgroup.
FirstWatch and NEMSQA will jointly sponsor a webinar on the topic of performance measures on Friday, Nov. 6 as one of their first collaborations.
“Supporting NESMQA was a no-brainer for us,” said FirstWatch Founder and President Todd Stout in a statement. “We know from our team members’ work on EMS Compass how important it is to build on the momentum created by that effort and to help EMS agencies across the country, and even around the globe, use their data to measure, assess and improve the service they deliver to patients and communities.”