Statute and Administrative Rules that support collection of EMSIS:
The Office of Legal Affairs within the Michigan Department of Community Health has developed the following document to provide clarification with respect to confidentiality/privacy issues as it pertains to the data collection/retention process:
Part 209 of P.A. 368 of 1978, as amended, Section 20910(1)(i) requires the Department to collect data to assess the need for and quality of emergency medical services throughout the state.
In addition, our administrative rules support the collection of EMS information in several areas, including the following:
Rule 114 states:
"Each life support agency or medical control authority, or both, shall establish a professional standards review organization for improving the quality of emergency medical services. As part of the organization, each life support agency shall collect data to assess the need for and quality of emergency medical services. The data shall be submitted to the medical control authority as determined by department-approved medical control authority protocol as required in Rule 325.22207(1)(h)."
Rule 211 states:
"(1) A medical control authority shall establish a quality improvement protocol to ensure a quality improvement program is in place and functional. (2) Data submitted by the life support agencies within the medical control authority region shall be reviewed by the medical control authority professional standards review organization for the purpose of improving the quality of medical care within the medical control authority region. (3) A quality improvement program shall comply with Section 20919(1)(g) of the code."
Rule 213 states:
"(1) A medical control authority shall collect data under the department-approved quality improvement protocol from each life support agency within the medical control authority region. Data collected shall be reviewed by the medical control authority professional standards review organization to improve the quality of medical care within the medical control authority region and shall comply with Section 20919(1)(g) of the code. All data collected under this section of the code are confidential, not public record, not discoverable, and shall not be used as evidence in a civil action or administrative proceeding. (2) A medical control authority shall submit data to the department as prescribed by the department and approved by the emergency medical services coordination committee."
Implementation Date
As many of you know, implementation of an EMS Information System (EMSIS) has been a goal for many years. I want to thank all of the members of the Prehospital Data Task Force for all of their hard work over the past few years. Without their involvement, support, and dedication to this project, we would not be at the point of collecting EMS data on a statewide basis.
*The implementation date for all life support agencies to begin collecting EMS data is April 1, 2009;
*Submission of EMSIS data will be at least monthly (15th of each month) with the previous month's data. The first submission date is May 15, 2009.
What You Need to Do
Michigan's EMS data repository is an all inclusive system. ImageTrend has been selected as Michigan's statewide data repository (this is where all data will be uploaded). There are 430 demographic and EMS data elements in the National EMS Information System (NEMSIS) Gold XML data file. This represents all of the elements located in the NEMSIS Data Dictionary. Anyone submitting data to ImageTrend should do so by importing or sending the NEMSIS XML file. This does not mean all 430 elements must be collected for every call or even at all. It just means that any NEMSIS data elements collected shall be submitted to the repository.
To be compliant with MI-EMSIS, agencies must use a NEMSIS Gold Compliant system. Agencies can choose to use the ImageTrend State Bridge (which is free of charge to all agencies and medical control authorities). The State Bridge is a web-based system and requires an active internet connection. Agencies and medical control authorities choosing to use the State Bridge have two options to get started:
*Choose to begin using State Bridge immediately. This option would require the agency to either self-train or receive training from others already familiar with the system; or
*Choose to begin using State Bridge and wait to implement after attending a regional Train-the-Trainer session.
In addition, a website has been established that will provide you with information regarding the MI-EMSIS project and the ImageTrend State Bridge. The web address is: https://elearn.mi-emsis.org/course/view.php?id=19. When prompted, visitors should select the option to login as a guest. This site contains contact information, State Bridge Manuals, training materials, and other project related information.
Another important file on the MI-EMSIS information site is the ImageTrend Implementation Workbook. Every EMS agency and medical control authority, regardless of the software being used, should complete this workbook. The workbook is used to populate the system with the agency's demographic information. The alternative to this process is manual online entry. The workbook can be downloaded from the information website identified above. Once completed, the workbook file should be emailed to Kevin Putman at putman@kcms.msu.edu.
What You Need to Do - Medical Control Authorities
To assist in addressing the confidentiality/privacy issues that have been raised, the EMS and Trauma Systems section is requiring that each MCA develop and submit a protocol, for approval, on how data will be used, maintained, and how the data will remain confidential. The Department has developed a state protocol (Patient Care Record, Electronic Documentation, and EMS Information System) to fulfill this need and has added it to the "System Protocols" section of the State Protocols. The MCA must adopt this protocol at a minimum. If you choose to add additional language, a deviation form must be completed along with the protocol, for review and approval.
As the EMS and Trauma Systems Section is very committed to ensuring data confidentiality, access by the Medical Control Authorities to their Life Support Agency data was removed effective IMMEDIATELY. To have access restored, the Medical Control Authority must complete the following:
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