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Chart Delivery Options

Delivering an electronic patient care record (ePCR) to the receiving hospital provides some challenges that depend on a hardware, software and access to the Internet. This web page is designed to outline what delivery options are available to emsCharts customers.

In the ideal situation, hospitals should provide access to a secure Internet connection and a printer to facilitate ePCR delivery for continuity of care. This facilitates the chart delivery to the hospital, and additionally to the EMS agency quality assurance department, medical director, billers, and state Department of Health data repositories. If no Internet is available, having access to a computer with print capabilities and a printer (wireless or cabled) will also give the EMS agencies the ability to print and deliver the PCR to the receiving individual.

The dynamic environment of Public Safety, the documentation requirements, and other variables require cooperation between EMS agencies and their receiving facilities. Identified below are a number of scenarios and explanation of various methods of delivering an ePCR to the receiving facility.


Local EMS Solutions

Standard Print and Fax
Benefit Consideration
Easy to setup and implement Cost of faxing, printer paper, and ink
Manual process subject to human error and omission

Install third party application like WinFax and handle faxing internally
Benefit Consideration
Easy to setup and implement Cost of printer paper and ink
Manual process subject to human error and omission


emsCharts Mobile Solutions (offline laptop)

Print emsCharts Mobile ePCR to a field printer
Benefit Consideration
Can leave chart at patient bedside for continuity of care Need access to a printer
Manual process subject to human error and omission


emsCharts Mobile Solutions (online laptop) [In Development]

Fax emsCharts Mobile chart from the field
Benefit Consideration
If the laptop is online the chart can be faxed to receiving facility Cost of faxing
ePCR can be faxed from any location for continuity of care Cost of Internet access
No need to access a printer Manual process subject to human error and omission


emsCharts.com Solutions

emsCharts hosted faxing automatically faxes to the documented receiving facility once the chart is locked?
Benefit Consideration
HIPAA compliant Cost of faxing
No cost for printer paper and ink
Minimal setup and configuration required; Start faxing immediately
No need to access a printer
Automatic process for high compliance fax rate
Ad Hoc faxing to a custom fax number
Faxing rules can be set up for other scenarios; for example if the patient is a DOA then fax to the Coroner's Office


emsCharts BISCOM FAXCOM Faxing

Install a BISCOM Fax server and fax internally
Benefit Consideration
After upfront fees, minimal faxing fees necessary Need to maintain hardware and Internet connection at the EMS agency location
Upfront hardware fees


emsCharts SyncPen

Using a high-tech pen device (emsCharts SyncPen) and special paper, ePCR data is documented on paper and the ePCR data is stored in the Pen. Once the form is complete, the Pen data is uploaded to emsCharts.com, and creates the initial ePCR
Benefit Consideration
User friendly platform for field data collection Hardware dependent with a small (Pen sized) device
Use company form that is familiar to EMS providers Cost of forms
Use multiple forms for assessment, patient consent signatures, and medical necessity paperwork
Paper (clinical document) to leave a receiving facility for continuity of care


Hospital Solutions

Hospital Access - Hospital can access ePCRs for patients brought to their facility
Benefit Consideration
Free online access Need hospital acceptance and buy in
View all received emsCharts ePCRs
Hospital can input patient dispositions, which are automatically sent back to EMS crews


Remote Downloader for Hospitals

Chart will be delivered to the receiving hospital - via Remote Downloader - as PDF, GIFF, TIFF, XML, HTML, SQL, CSV, or ASCII file. Can also be setup to auto-print to a specific network printer (e.g. in the Emergency Room).
Benefit Consideration
No cost to the EMS agency Installed per hospital; if one hospital does not subscribe, ePCR?s must be delivered to that hospital by alternate means
Minimal cost to hospital
Hospital can receive raw data for internal processes


Combination of emsCharts faxing and Remote Downloader for Hospitals

When an area is saturated with emsCharts users, a hospital(s) can subscribe to the Remote Downloader, which will route the ePCR data to that receiving facility. For patients transported outside of the primary service area (or to non-Remote Downloader hospitals), faxing is used.
Benefit Consideration
Fax rules can conditional, e.g. If patient is transported to xyz hospital (Remote Downloader user) then do not fax Need hospital acceptance
Cost effective total solution
All emsCharts users in an area will send ePCRs to a hospital that has Remote Downloader


Hospital Interface

Health Level 7 (HL7) Interface creates a secure connection to auto-populate hospital electronic medical record (EMR) software (unidirectional flow) and emsCharts software (bi-directional flow)
Benefit Consideration
Streamlines allocation of patient information electronically Custom programming fees
All patients brought to the HL7 using hospital can utilize the HL7 feed Maintaining connection to emsCharts for data feed