Victor Cheung

Billing challenges are a common thorn in the side for many emergency medical service (EMS) providers. Issues like inaccurate documentation, coding errors, and delayed claim submissions can wreak havoc on an EMS organization’s financial stability. In practice, these problems can result in hundreds of millions of denied claims, and only a small fraction are likely to be appealed. Plus, billing problems don’t just strain resources and cut profitability; they also hinder healthcare providers from providing their patients with timely, effective, and life-saving care. It’s thus unquestionably in EMS providers’ best interest to invest in improved billing and revenue management.

Many modern EMS organizations have found success in this arena by adopting comprehensive solutions like Traumasoft. Overall, Traumasoft is a comprehensive software platform designed specifically for the emergency medical services industry. It offers a suite of integrated tools to help EMS organizations automate and manage various aspects of their operations, including billing. Such cutting-edge technology, supported by transparent communication practices and a well-trained staff, can streamline processes and alleviate many of the common headaches associated with revenue management in the EMS industry.

This article aims to highlight some key strategies for improving EMS billing and securing quicker payments. Your EMS organization can leverage the following practices to enhance operational efficiency and financial performance, thereby ensuring you can continue to provide high-quality emergency services while staying profitable:

Invest in Top-of-the-Line Billing Solutions

Efficient billing software is no longer a luxury but a necessity for EMS organizations seeking to stay competitive and productive in the digital age. Fortunately, the best billing solutions provide an immediate return on investment that can more than offset their upfront cost. The right software can all but eliminate manual errors and speed up claim processing times to transform your billing processes from the ground up.

Traumasoft’s advanced billing module offers features like automated coding, real-time claim status updates, and seamless integration with Traumasoft’s ePCR module. These capabilities keep your billing operations as smooth and accurate as possible so you face minimal risk of denied claims and delayed payments. Moreover, Traumasoft’s unified dataset eliminates data duplication and enhances the accuracy of your billing information. With Traumasoft in your corner, your company can unlock substantial efficiency gains that will ultimately lead to faster reimbursements and a more stable cash flow.

Ensure Documentation and Coding Are Accurate

Accurate documentation and coding are the backbone of a successful EMS billing process. Errors in these areas can lead to claim denials and delays that will severely impact your revenue cycle. It is thus imperative for your organization to capture all patient information thoroughly and accurately during encounters when filling out ePCR reports. Ideally, your ePCR software should have measures in place to guarantee correct coding and billing, you minimize the likelihood of errors that can disrupt the payment process.

Traumasoft’s ePCR module aids EMS professionals by providing a user-friendly interface for real-time data entry during patient encounters. It enables automatic data capture, and provides customizable templates where all necessary details can be recorded easily. The system supports thorough documentation through prompts and checks that guide EMS personnel in capturing comprehensive patient information accurately. What’s more, Traumasoft’s ePCR module is seamlessly integrated with the billing module, eliminating the need for double data-entry and the error associated with it.

Provide Continuous Education and Training for Staff

The EMS industry is continuously evolving, which means that your staff will also need periodic training to keep up with changes in the sector. Well-trained staff are better equipped to handle the complexities of EMS billing, from accurate documentation to proper claim submission. This expertise enhances efficiency and boosts the morale and confidence of your team, leading to a more productive work environment.

To support your team’s goal of continuous learning, Traumasoft provides various tools and resources that they can use to keep themselves knowledgeable and proficient in the latest EMS billing procedures. These include, but aren’t limited to, interactive training modules, up-to-date documentation on billing practices and regulatory changes, and access to webinars and online courses.

Conduct Regular Internal Audits and Reviews

Your organization will need to perform frequent financial audits and review to verify that your billing processes are operating up to speed. These audits help identify any inefficiencies or errors that could be costing your organization money and time. The benefits of performing them don’t just stop at compliance, either, as audits also help optimize your revenue cycle management. Scrutinizing your billing practices extensively can uncover patterns or recurring issues that need to be addressed so you can be assured that your processes are continually improving.

Streamline the Claim Submission Process

Your claim submission process needs to be as efficient as possible to secure timely payments. Implementing electronic claims submissions and stringent checks for accuracy and completeness can significantly reduce processing times and the likelihood of denials. Batch processing of claims (a feature that Traumasoft users love) and using automated reminders for follow-ups are other effective strategies to optimize the submission process. Implementing these practices ensures that your claims are submitted promptly and accurately, leading to faster reimbursements and improved cash flow.

Strengthen Communication with Both Patients and Payers

In addition to improving your operational processes and technological infrastructure, it’s equally important to work toward communicating clearly and transparently with both patients and payers. For patients, providing detailed billing statements and explaining their financial responsibilities can reduce confusion, disputes, and the manpower associated with them. You may also be able to facilitate quicker transactions by offering multiple payment options or setting up online portals for payments.

When dealing with payers, strive to establish strong relationships and maintain open communication channels, both of which can help you resolve issues more quickly. Address discrepancies or queries promptly to prevent delays in payment and iron out claims processing. Ultimately, prioritizing communication improvements will earn you benefits beyond financial ones, because doing so will also contribute to higher patient satisfaction and strengthen your rapport with insurance companies that you work with.

Utilize Reporting and Analytics Tools

Data analytics play a pivotal role in monitoring and enhancing billing performance. Your EMS organization can leverage analytics to track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as days in accounts receivable (AR), claim denial rates, and payment turnaround times, all of which are offered by Traumaosft’s EMS analytics module. These insights help identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies in the billing process, which then open up the opportunity for improvements.

Meanwhile, robust reporting tools enable your team to generate detailed reports that highlight trends and areas needing attention. Regularly review these reports so you have a realistic, up-to-date assessment of your billing operations. Plus, from a broader perspective, utilizing analytics and reporting also supports data-driven decision-making that can lead to better financial outcomes for your EMS organization.

Develop an Efficient Strategy for Denials and Appeals

No matter how much you optimize your billing processes, you will inevitably still have to deal with denials from time to time. An efficient denials management strategy starts with identifying common reasons for denials, such as incomplete documentation or coding errors, and training staff or implementing a solution like Traumasoft to avoid these pitfalls. A clear, systematic process for addressing and appealing denied claims can significantly reduce their impact. This includes timely follow-up on denials, utilizing tracking systems to monitor the status of appeals, and resubmitting claims with necessary corrections promptly.

It may also help to designate a dedicated team or individual to handle denied claims. This specialist should be well-versed in payer guidelines and adept at crafting compelling appeal letters. You can support the efforts of these individuals by reviewing the outcomes of your appeals and adjusting strategies accordingly. Your efforts in this area will likely further enhance the efficiency and success rate of your organization’s appeals process.

Observe Compliance with Regulations

EMS organizations must remain compliant with healthcare regulations and payer requirements to avoid penalties and facilitate smooth billing. Regulations frequently change, so you and your team will need to be proactive about keeping yourselves informed and adaptable. In addition to the regular training and financial audits mentioned above, implementing an EMS billing solution that checks your entries with rules and regulations (like what Traumasoft offers) can further enhance your organization’s ability to stay up-to-date with regulatory changes. This solution can track regulatory updates, automate compliance checks, and provide alerts for potential compliance issues.

There are naturally many benefits to adopting a proactive approach to compliance. Doing so helps your organization maintain a streamlined billing process, reduces the risk of costly errors, and preserves your good standing with regulatory bodies and payers. Overall, compliance both protects the organization from financial penalties and promotes a culture of accountability and continuous improvement internally.

Consider Outsourcing Billing Services

Some EMS organizations may find it more strategic to outsource EMS billing services, particularly those struggling with internal resource constraints. Specialized third-party billing companies possess the expertise and dedicated resources to handle complex billing tasks more effectively. These companies also stay current with industry regulations and technological advancements, so they can promise both seamless compliance and optimal performance.

Outsourcing can lead to faster claim processing, reduced administrative burden on staff, and improved overall financial health. And once they’ve tapped into the expertise of specialized billing services, EMS organizations can focus more on patient care and other critical functions. Additionally, outsourcing can provide greater scalability and flexibility, as EMS organizations have room to adapt to changing demands without overburdening their internal teams.

Improving your EMS billing process is not just about enhancing efficiency; it’s about securing the financial stability that allows your organization to thrive. Embracing the practices mentioned above positions your organization for better financial health and operational excellence. We at Traumasoft are more than happy to assist you in leveling up billing operations at your organization, so don’t hesitate to contact us today for a live demo on how our solution might serve your unique needs.

About Traumasoft

Traumasoft is one truly integrated product for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT) that drives timely efficiencies. We are an all-in-one system capable of managing every aspect of your EMS operations. One system comprised of interconnected solutions handles staff, integrates processes, manages assets, and grows revenue. Schedule a demo today to see how we can help you increase operation efficiency and profitability.

EM Weekly Podcast Featuring RJ Morrison from Traumasoft

How do we fix the issues and challenges that the EMS industry faces? How can tech help?

In this podcast, Zack Borst from EM Weekly discusses EMS issues with RJ Morrison from Traumasoft. Started as an EMT-B and climbing the ranks to Paramedic, RJ’s seen it all, taught a thing or two about EMS, and has filled pretty much every agency role you can think of. Now, he’s diving into the world of Traumasoft, convinced by its power to transform the way agencies work and look after their dedicated teams.

Below is the original podcast video and the transcript.

Topics Discussed:

• Traumasoft’s story [00:05:58]
• Technologies to solve EMS issues [00:11:04]
• Improving mental health of field workers [00:15:55]
• Attending to employees and alleviating burnout [00:20:48]
• Advices for EMS managers [00:27:27]

Introduction

Hey everybody. Before we start today’s podcast, I want to ask my listeners and viewers if you can help us out. Vermont has been impacted by a very significant flood that has created the same levels of destruction that we saw in Irene over a decade ago. There are a lot of people suffering a lot of just impacts to, you know, livelihoods and it’s going to be a very long recovery. Thankfully, Vermont has done a fantastic job learning a lot from Irene and so I think we mitigated a lot more impacts than we probably would have. But we’re not actually out of this yet. We’ve had multiple nights of just heavy, heavy rainfall creating more issues around the state, including landslides and stuff. If you’re in Vermont and you need help, or if you want to help and you’re in Vermont or outside of Vermont – Vermont.gov/flood – that website has become sort of the one stop shop for information about how to take care of your own stuff if you’re a victim of the floods, as well as for folks who want to help. It has information on volunteering. It has information on donations. Remember, donate cash over stuff unless there’s very specific things that are asked for.

[00:01:35] – Zack Borst

Cash is just so much more flexible and valuable in a disaster and taking stuff in actually takes a lot of logistics and resources away from responding to the disaster. So again, major, major disaster. We’re still sort of in the process of assessing how bad it is and what the long-term impacts will be. But I think all of us know, as a Vermonter, my entire life, know, we can’t thank people enough for the help they’ve already provided and there’s still just so much help that’s needed. So that’s my pitch. I would really appreciate any help that you can provide. Share the resource Vermont.gov/flood so that other people can help. And yeah, hopefully maybe on the next episode we’ll have good news and sort of start to get out of this, but we’re in it right now, so I appreciate any help you can provide. Thank you.

And I think it’s an appropriate way to open up an emergency management podcast with the ongoing disaster. And you have a background that I’m sure you’ve seen all sorts of disasters and I’m really excited to have you on here. RJ is with Traumasoft and I’ll have him talk a little bit about that.

[00:03:16] – Zack Borst

But first and foremost, who are you? What’s your background? How did you get here?

[00:03:20] – RJ Morrison

Well, I appreciate being on Zach. RJ Morrison my background, I started in Boston, Massachusetts as an EMT, paramedic, wanted to change the world as they say, and then went into the management field midway through the career. About eight, almost ten years ago now I moved out to California to manage a couple of organizations out here.

[00:03:47] – Zack Borst

Oh, you guys would love our rain.

[00:03:48] – RJ Morrison

When you’re saying you’re suffering from rain, I’m like, can I just borrow some?

[00:03:54] – Zack Borst

Just a little.

[00:03:54] – RJ Morrison

Right now I believe we have fire in Riverside county. I think they’re at like 20% containment.

[00:04:03] – Zack Borst

I’ll take rain over fires, but yeah. So you moved to California about ten years ago.

[00:04:08] – RJ Morrison

Since I’ve settled in, this is now my new home. I never thought I would say it, but I mean, it’s 60 degrees out. It’s too cold for me. I need a jacket so I can’t go back to Boston or tell people I’m from New England.

[00:04:23] – Zack Borst

Yeah, we’ll chew you up and spit you out.

[00:04:28] – RJ Morrison

Crazy that way. So I’ve been out here up till the beginning of this year. I was managing organizations local to Los Angeles. That was in Southern California. But then I made a change, a career change, and went into the technology side, and I started working for Traumasoft, which I was introduced to the program because I was using it as an administrator for my staff and such. So it’s definitely a change in going full circle in a sense of doing this job a little bit.

[00:05:58] – Zack Borst

I think it’s good. So Traumasoft is a management system for EMS, but it does a whole bunch of things. And I think it’s really interesting that you went from a practitioner into this. I did the same thing, actually, with Everbridge. I was a emergency manager who used Everbridge, was super familiar with it, and then went over and worked for them for a few years. And the reason that I think it’s really smart for tech companies to do that is there’s a lot of software out there in public safety and emergency management that is designed for us but not by us. And when you have a system like that, that doesn’t actually take into account the people who are going to use it, it’s essentially functioning as though a designer or an engineer took a look at what they think we do and then they tried to replicate that. And I think that that is almost always a recipe for disaster, if not just making things far more complicated than they should be. So what got you to jump from actually being on the practitioner side into the technology side. That’s a big leap for a lot of folks, and certainly from someone who was a paramedic, a doer, and now you are on the other side trying to help out those folks.

[00:07:23] – RJ Morrison

You made a great point there when you talk about people that are designing the programs that aren’t from the industry. So Traumasoft, ironically, the founders owned an ambulance company and they were kind of sick and tired of using the, I won’t name drop in a sense, but the big brands that were out there, all my competitors now, right? Everybody wanted to do a little bit of this, a little bit of that, but then it turned into everybody had 15 different logins, they’re going to 15 different programs. Brian Barlow, along with Mike Coffman, who are the co-founders of Traumasoft, they started building this platform to eliminate all that stuff. Brian was a paramedic since like the early ninetiess or something like that. So being a practitioner, he’s built what it is today. And when I started using the platform, at first I was kind of like, I came from the big competitors and their fancy pretty colors and all that other stuff. But as I started to dive in more and more on the platform, I’m like, no, I really like this because it’s user friendly, right? I mean, if anybody that has done administration and has used certain programs and doing data analysis and stuff, you have to have like a PhD in crystal reporting in order to do any type of analytics.

[00:08:52] – RJ Morrison

Which I always tell people all the time because they’re like, oh, you work for an IT company. I’m like, no, I can spell IT. I don’t know how to do anything. I mean, don’t ask me how to do change a deck or something. I mean, I’m learning terms that I have no idea what they mean. But sure, some people that are like, yeah, I’m like, you have a five nine server. I’m like, sure, no idea what it means.

[00:09:11] – Zack Borst

Full stack development. Like the only full stack I care about is a full stack of pancakes. Everything else I don’t care.

[00:09:19] – RJ Morrison

So when I was looking at it, maybe I wouldn’t say a career change in a sense, but I was starting to wind down from being… I have young kids. So the Sunday to Saturday, 24 hours a day, being on call for every little thing, whether it’s a car accident or an employee getting injured. I was getting a little burnt out from it. So I was looking to make a change to something else. And I happen to know the VP, or I’m sorry, he’s the CRO of Traumasoft, and we were talking and as a customer, I’ve always been a vocal person on different things. And he’s like we’re looking for somebody to work in the west coast and specifically California, because California, when it comes to labor management out here, there are so many nuance of different laws that they say you can hire a lawyer and help you with stuff. No, you have to actually find a specifically trained lawyer out here to work. So Traumasoft, with a lot of the programs that we have, the different modules, there is a huge thing with we do what they call out here, we call it C seven compliance, which is lunch breaks and monitoring them when that happens and stuff like that.

[00:10:45] – RJ Morrison

So we’re the only platform that I’ve seen that has that ability to do those things. So a lot of things like that was just like an interest. And I’m like, sure, I’ll try it. But coming onboard, I was like, listen, I’m not a salesman here. I’m not good at this. He’s like, no, you don’t have to, you just have to talk about it.

[00:11:04] – Zack Borst

I’ve actually found the same sort of, obviously, in my day job, we’re a private sector emergency management company, so we still have to get contracts. We still have to go out and engage with folks. I’m actually a terrible salesman. I don’t want to say lying, not all salespeople lie, but certainly there is a tactic there where they embellish reality, and I’m just not good at that. I’m like the good old New England Vermonter, who is too kind and gets run over by everyone else. But because I know what I’m talking about and because I am passionate about my field, it actually is extremely valuable. And I imagine it’s probably very similar with you. When you’re in the trenches and you’re looking for stuff to make your job easier, you want to find the company that actually gives a crap about you. And a lot of them, I’m just saying this very generalized. Not every company is dirty, not every private sector venture that’s working in public safety is just out there to get money. But there are certainly many of them out there that just don’t seem to fully grasp what it’s like on the other side.

[00:12:15] – Zack Borst

And in EMS in particular, the field is struggling and continues to struggle. And honestly, that was one of the things that sort of led me to this conversation was I had a cold email from Victor, who’s working with you guys in marketing and stuff. And he was like, hey, I think based on your sort of discussions, you should chat with Traumasoft, because you’re talking about the things that we’re talking about. So staff burnout, innovating a field that is very difficult to innovate in, certainly the practical side of EMS, there’s all sorts of innovation and technology that’s being put into ambulances and stuff, but the culture, the structure, the attitude, those things take a lot of time to change. And so when you start introducing technologies. On top of that, it can make things really complicated. So maybe talk a little bit about how you sort of see Traumasoft fitting into that or maybe some ways that you all are innovating in that. Because I think our audience is emergency managers primarily, but we have a lot of public safety folks and EMS in many cases falls under the emergency manager’s purview. But it’s like that other thing.

[00:13:33] – Zack Borst

You have dispatch, you have emergency, your general EM stuff, and then you have EMS, and trying to manage all that is really complicated. So your software can make that better.

[00:13:42] – RJ Morrison

Yeah, that’s our goal. Right? I mean, our goal is to always make it better. The labor force that we’re working with, at my age, I don’t think I’m that old, but then I realize in the industry I’m an old dinosaur because I got 20 years in, right? I’m like, wow, I was thinking back to when I was in my early 20s, like looking at the guys that were in their forties and I’m like, wow, you guys have been in this, I can’t do that. And the next thing you know, here I am. So one thing is that with our program, when it comes to managing, we have modules that will do our scheduling and deployment resources and do analytics and stuff like that, which is all kind of part of the job, whatever. But what we’re doing, interestingly for the newer generation, basically, frankly, it’s the social media kings and queens nowadays basically coming in and I can turn on Instagram, but don’t ask me to do anything with it. But we’re building platforms that are apps, which are what they know how to use, and people that we’re using to build them are their age.

[00:14:54] – RJ Morrison

Actually, one of our project leads is building our application called Core, which is for the employees to use. It’s interactive, social media type of thing, where they can talk to each other, have little chat groups. Stay engaged with what’s going on, and we can put feeds into it to have different news and EMS world coming out, things like that, where they can interact with it. But it’s an app and the person that’s building it, he’s in his mid twenties. And this is what they do. They had to live in that world. EMS managers ask everyone of us, we’re the best ones that there, no matter where. I can do the job better than anybody else, just ask me. But this is something that we’re falling absolutely. I mean, anybody that says they don’t have that is lying. Right? I mean, I have to say yeah, but if you would have asked me to come up with that idea, I would be like, no, I couldn’t help you there. But we’re engaging.

[00:15:55] – Zack Borst

Well, yeah, I think this is the thing. So we chatted. It was like almost a month ago, I think. And one of the things that really flicked a light bulb in my head was a yes. The app is awesome, I think for a number of reasons. The days of being able to sit around a station and wait for a call are gone. It just doesn’t exist. Either the agency is too resource strapped or too busy to have time to sort of catch up with your fellow EMTs and paramedics and everything else. So just having that some way to sort of coordinate all that. And then the other thing that I think is really important is we are also facing a mental health crisis on top of everything else. So huge increases in suicides. I’ve known far too many people in public safety who have either committed suicide or gotten so close. Part of that has to do with that loss of connection. And you all are recognizing this and are leaning into it in ways that I had not heard of another company doing as part of a management platform as well. So it’s not just like this is its own thing, it’s like this is part of the apps.

[00:17:15] – Zack Borst

I was going to say the core of the company, but that’s also the app name. But it is the core of your organization that you recognize this and that you’re trying to improve it in whatever way that you can.

[00:17:30] – RJ Morrison

Absolutely. Mental health nowadays and we were talking earlier that my wife is a clinical psychologist, so mental health is a daily thing in my house, mainly for her. But speaking for our organization, one of the things we’re doing with our app is basically we’re trying to find a way to put in almost like a heat lamp, in a sense, on employees, to have them answer a couple of questions or kind of look at the pain scale type of thing and select what their mood is to kind of be able to do a temperature check of seeing how people are doing. I happen to be on the board of directors for the Code Green campaign, which is Mental Health Awareness and Traumasoft….

[00:18:24] – Zack Borst

Awesome program, I’ll put a link to that in the show notes.

[00:18:27] – RJ Morrison

Traumasoft is a proud corporate sponsor of, you know, it is in the forefront because we’ve all experienced or know people that have had people that have committed suicide or even attempted and stuff like that. So it’s very true and it’s not just mental health in itself. There’s parts of it too of kind of like the well being of an individual, right? I mean, the work life balance is a big thing nowadays, too, where you were talking about sitting back at the station and hang out. I can remember for years. At the end of your 24, you’d still sit around there for probably an hour or so, chewing a fat, maybe make coffee for the group and we’d just hang out for a little bit. But now it’s like, my shifts are we got to go, right? There’s no camaraderie. Not that there isn’t, but it’s not the same as it was before. But our goal with this app is to kind of give that ability to still be there in the realm that your staff wants to be, right? They want to be on the kind of the social media aspect. So let it be that way and let that be the way that they can connect with each other and still build that camaraderie and that willingness to participate in different ways, however way it may look for them.

[00:19:43] – RJ Morrison

But that is 100% one of the core points. No pun there, but core points with our platform is to stay engaged with everything. Our CAD is a visual CAD, so it flashes and makes different colors and things like that. So it’s all about that mind stimulation of what’s going on. To be looking at what’s happening and engaging you, that’s 100%. It’s 100% of engagement and keeping an interest. Because if not, it’s just like you look at a cardiac monitor, the same QRS complex, and then all of a sudden it goes into VTech. You’re like, oh, shiny object. Right?

[00:20:18] – Zack Borst

Yeah.

[00:20:19] – RJ Morrison

We’re kind of doing the same thing. We want it to be kind of like, oh, shiny object. What is going on here? Let’s look at this. It has to do the work, and some people are like, I don’t want to. But no, there is an interest. It’s just to what level? Right.

[00:20:32] – Zack Borst

The other area that I think is really fascinating and in the conversation we had before, we had I believe it was one of the co-founders that jumped on the call.

[00:20:48] – Zack Borst

Yeah. And he was sort of talking about just how not only are you all and this is almost as an industry trying to not just make things more efficient, which is really critical because, again, EMS, fire, police in particular and actually, I’m seeing this now. Even on the emergency management side, everyone’s short staffed, so there just isn’t as many hands to do stuff. So, like, handing off the menial stuff to the computers to take care of and that opens up more time to work on the more important stuff, like the human side of it and engaging with your personnel so that it’s not just like, oh, RJ, I’m just checking in because I need a vacation day or something, and I need your approval. And that’s the only real interaction you have is, like, either menial tasks, getting someone in trouble because they screwed up, not giving the opportunity to do the mentoring, check on your folks to make sure that they are actually taking care of themselves and frankly, like, helping to alleviate the burnout, which is like there’s not a public safety industry. Now that is like the word of the day.

[00:22:06] – Zack Borst

Like burnout, burnout, burnout. And that includes supervisors.

[00:22:09] – RJ Morrison

Right.

[00:22:09] – Zack Borst

Because when everyone at the bottom leaves, you’re back on the truck. So I guess how does Traumasoft and maybe even talk about technology in general, how you see it sort of helping to alleviate that, not just EMS, but across.

[00:22:23] – RJ Morrison

With technology. And again, it’s one of those great things to say that I’ve seen it come up in a sense, right. Going from using paper PCRs to using ePCRS, right. I mean that was like a big thing, a change in technology. That’s what our industry is going with. But nowadays with 100% there is a huge disconnect and I have to say I was a culprit of it as well, that at times the only time I ever learned some of my employees names was because there was a reason they did something wrong and there wasn’t that engagement. And towards the end I was like, you know what, it’s time to forget that part and I want to learn who the individual is, right? What I started doing, at one point, we were doing kind of like the employee of the month, right. It’s always kind of a tongue in cheek, so to speak. But one of the organization I was with, we came up with the idea of having about 15 different titles that we gave people every month. There’s one like Jumping Jack Flash who had the fastest from at scene to destination time.

[00:23:32] – RJ Morrison

Basically an emergency went from their complete assessment to when they got to the hospital. Granted in California they’d be sitting there for 7 hours at the wall waiting to drop off the patient. But that’s a whole other story. But even that actually, you know, one of the things with Traumasoft’s platform is there’s a way to kind of set like kickers in a sense, you want to check on a crew what’s going know, and when you have crews, I’m going to say pick on California. But here they will be sitting at a hospital during the height of COVID in a sense, or even still now. But they’d be sitting, waiting to offload their patient for ten to 12 hours, right, and they’re just sitting there. They can’t do anything. They can’t leave the patient and it’s like, you know what, I need to figure out a way either one, know that they’re doing it. Two, I need somebody to go in there and check on them, hey, go take a lunch break. Somebody sitting and maintain that engagement with them because it’s like, you know what, they are sick and tired, no different than we are.

[00:24:35] – RJ Morrison

As managers, I’m like, well I want my crew, I want my resource back. But they’re sitting there like, oh, I got to hold the wall. So much for getting out on time, right. Which then turns into a whole other issue.

[00:24:47] – Zack Borst

Now your shift is all jacked up.

[00:24:51] – RJ Morrison

With the platform, people are always penalized on you’re showing up late to your shift, you’re showing up late to your shift. And a lot of the platforms out there that I’ve used was like there was no way to kind of subtract a point or put conditions where, hey, you got out 5 hours late yesterday, which is why you were tired and came in late this morning. Right. Our platform gives the ability to look at it and go, hey, look, as you’re applying the metrics to it and go, you know what, RJ? He got up like 6 hours late. He came in ten minutes late this next morning. That point does not go, because it’s like where he got held over on the back end, where was my sorry to you? For that, let’s say childcare and things like that. You had to go pick up your kid from daycare. Now you’re paying penalties or having somebody else have to go pick them up and stuff. So our platform allows a manager to actually look at those things and also finding key people within your organization, which is also a big thing, having the right people do the right thing, that’s 100% also part of it.

[00:25:58] – RJ Morrison

And you can see that with the technology of how people are interacting with things. There’s an organization here in California that is frankly, I mean, if I could have worked for them when I was a young EMT paramedic, I would have in a heartbeat. They do use a lot of technology, they do a lot of analytics, but they support their staff like crazy. Some of them will just the ones that just graduate from college will say they’re on their LinkedIn profile celebrating them. I think they’ve been ranked for the last couple of years like the top 100 companies to work for by Glassdoor, which is 100% based on voting and stuff. That type of stuff is part of what as EMS managers, like administrators, that we have to worry about for profit or nonprofit organizations, it doesn’t matter.

[00:27:13] – RJ Morrison

So the interaction that takes place utilizing the software, keeping your staff engaged I want to say that our platform does it the best, to be honest. And obviously there’s a bias, right?

[00:27:27] – Zack Borst

Sure. You know what, though? Be proud of that. If that is a feature that, again, we’ve talked about. Again, I’m not a podcaster that brings on a company to pitch its product. In fact, our company as a whole only really sort of pitches or seeks sponsors or whatever with people that we’ve worked with or that we just like we’re like dude, they align with us. They are in the same mindset and I think it’s totally okay to celebrate that your company actually is doing their best and that there’s organizations that are also on top of it. And I think maybe just because we’re getting towards the tail end of this. You’ve been in the field for a long time, you’ve seen the evolution of EMS. So we’ve talked about how software is one part of that but what are the other things that maybe some of the emergency managers or EMS managers that are listening to this need to start thinking about in their careers, about how to maybe… software is obviously one component but you’ve seen it. What else should they be considering with this burnout and what other sort of solutions have you come across or thoughts that you have to help keep this going?

[00:28:43] – Zack Borst

Because I think talking about that, unfortunately I did a lot of recruitment and retention on the departments that I was on. I love doing that. I love welcoming new people in, I love working with people and trying to keep them in. But what I found most of the time is that a lot of the issues were not the call volume, the no time. It’s actually much more just culture and not being a culture that actually really truly cares about the folks and having that if you’re not in, you’re not in gatekeeping and stuff. And so I guess in your experience, what are some things as you’ve sort of sunseted your management career that you’ve learned that maybe you could pass on to our listeners?

[00:29:25] – RJ Morrison

I mean the biggest thing is for the old timers and I’m going to say, me included, we need to break the mentality of you need to be tough skin, the old glory days, the more blood you got on you the better. That stuff has to go. I can remember hazing when I went first in the field that was expected type of thing but culturally now managers have to focus on the person. There’s a person, Danielle Thomas who always says “just be kind” and that’s honestly 100% true. I mean at the end of the day everybody’s a human, everybody has emotions, has their different needs. Right? You’re right 100%. It’s not necessarily the call button. Honestly they feel that they’re being appreciated in some way and it’s not just and I hate to say it, but it’s not just EMS week. Right. It needs to be around the calendar and one of the phrases where our tagline for the code green campaign is using a name not red. So the idea behind that is that people do eventually go out and get help and they seek the help that they need in order to prevent unfortunately inevitable thing of them trying to commit suicide.

[00:30:57] – RJ Morrison

And we never actually acknowledge the ones that were able to do something for themselves or much less even acknowledge that the managers or supervisors or even just a peer, peer review in a sense, are engaging the staff to help them. And we need to listen to those things. That’s the biggest thing that I say now that I wish I knew five years ago, which would change how I would have managed a couple of the companies in the last five years. We actually need to shut up and listen and act and have people show us that they’re smarter than you and listen to what they have to say.

[00:31:36] – Zack Borst

That’s amazing advice. And I think especially a lot of our folks that are listening that are maybe on that cusp, either they’re leaders and they’re seeing their folks struggling and they don’t know what to do, or they’re the ones struggling and they don’t know how to approach the leader. There’s that gap there that I think is really challenging now with the generation that’s coming up. This is where a thing like an app could actually be really important. The generation coming up doesn’t have as much experience with the face to face conversation. They tend to be less sort of like more standoffish in that sense. And that’s not to say that that’s everyone and certainly there’s plenty of people who will be happy to stand up and advocate for themselves, but there’s also plenty who aren’t. So making sure that you’re reaching your audience in the best way, whatever that is. It could be the tack board in the station on the wall. It could be a phone call, it could be the app. Just checking in on your folks is really important. And the Be kind thing is just I’ve sort of recently had a bout of just interactions with folks in my field where I’m like, what is happening right now?

[00:32:47] – Zack Borst

Why are we all being jerks to each other? And a lot of it has to do with like everyone’s tired, we’re in this poly crisis, there’s disasters everywhere and it feels like relentless and the pace stinks and all this other stuff. But if we all can just sort of pause and just be like, yes, tell me what’s going on, I get that you’re frustrated. Let’s talk about it. You will save a life. There’s so much data out there that says the folks that didn’t complete suicide, it was like that last second. Either pause on their own part, which is really hard to do in that time, or it’s someone who’s just like, hey, what’s going on? And in EMS in particular. I have so much empathy. And my EMS people, especially managing a student EMS service for six years and seeing kids go through, I mean, the Wringer, we had some just terrible, terrible calls while I was there, and these are kids that are just coming up and to see their resiliency, which is like, another thing that I think is really important that people don’t recognize. And you guys talked about it on our previous calls.

[00:33:58] – Zack Borst

Just like the resilient, trying to build that resiliency in folks. Don’t discount your people as not being resilient or capable or hardworking or thoughtful or whatever. Like you said, we all kind of come into work each day with whatever we’re carrying from the day before and the weeks before and the years before, and so just having that little just pause of like, I care about you. I want you to succeed. Let’s succeed together. And I think that’ll, of course, high pay would also help. Like, let’s pay EMS what they deserve, for crying out loud.

[00:34:31] – RJ Morrison

I saw you censor yourself there for a second. I saw that. But 100%, the people that say, leave home at home and work at work, I’m sorry, unless you have bipolar, there’s really no way to separate the two.

[00:34:45] – Zack Borst

How do you possibly do that?

[00:34:47] – RJ Morrison

And I always say that I worked for owners that were like, that it has nothing to do with work. Yes, it does. Everything has to do with work.

[00:34:54] – Zack Borst

Of course.

[00:34:55] – RJ Morrison

Everything home has to do with work. Work has to do with home. The psychological term is attunement. That gives you the ability, and this will go to the older generation that you worked with the same partner for five years. You didn’t have to actually verbally say anything, but if you looked at them a certain way, they knew what you needed next. Because you guys had that connection. That connection is like this now. It’s like Swiss cheese, and we need to change that to a nice Parmesan or something. I don’t know why I’m going food analogies, but that’s what happens.

[00:35:32] – Zack Borst

Yeah, no, a nice melted.

[00:35:34] – RJ Morrison

There you go.

[00:35:35] – Zack Borst

Nice and smooth and creamy and everyone’s happy. I guess, before we go, do you have any interesting stories from your time in EMS? Like a call that just was mind boggling, that you just always are like, oh, my God, I can’t believe I just went through that.

[00:35:53] – RJ Morrison

There’s probably a bunch of those, but it’s more actually, for me, I taught at Northeast University EMT School for today, and there was an individual student that I had, and this is obviously not treatment, but he was a plumber. He was a plumber, and he could not fathom how basically the blood returned to the heart. He just couldn’t, for some reason, fathom how it was working. And I came up with on the spot, I used a toilet, a tub, and a sewer system somehow, and he came up with a way to explain it, and then afterwards, he’s like, makes total sense to me. And I’m like, this is actually kind of cool. I just took something out of completely nothing and made him… And it’s kind of like, those are the moments that I remember everything else. Unfortunately, we’ve all seen death, bad car accidents and things like that, which are always the ones that your friends ask you. Hey, what’s the worst thing you ever seen?

[00:36:59] – Zack Borst

Oh, yeah, the gore. You get the front row seat. One thing that I found, and I don’t know if it’s recently, maybe you’ve noticed it too, there is this huge emphasis on sort of just all the trauma of the industry and the bad stuff. And I’m like 100% you’re going to see bad stuff. In fact, I always did a gut check with our new members, just being like, we’re going to have a lot of really good times. It’s going to be tons and tons of fun, but occasionally this job is going to suck and you just have to be prepared for that and we’ll get through it. And now we didn’t have a lot of the treatments now with the EMDR and these other treatments that are almost immediately and getting rid of the old… I don’t know how many times we went to a critical incident stress debriefing. And I’m like, are we trying to out morbid each other? My experience is worse than your experience and stuff. It never felt like it was working. And now I think we have to get back into… I get there’s a lot of burnout there’s all that bad stuff.

[00:38:01] – Zack Borst

But man, some of the best times I ever had as an adult, as a kid, I started at 17, was at the firehouse or doing EMS. It is such a cool job and you get a front row seat to the craziest, the funniest, the weirdest stuff that nobody else gets to see. And I think we have to get back into really celebrating how cool the job is. And I understand we’re suffering and the pay sucks. We definitely have to improve that. But we also have to sort of also rebuild that what makes this job cool and get people into it again, because I think a lot of young people are scared out of it because they think it’s just going to be nothing but trauma and blood and pain. And, you know, it’s not all that. It’s a lot of really good stuff and you’re not going to help anyone in your life like you help someone on even a basic EMS call. Most people will never have that experience. And I think it’s just so cool. And I really appreciate you coming on and sort of talking about your experiences as well as Traumasoft.

[00:39:04] – Zack Borst

How can people find Traumasoft?

[00:39:06] – RJ Morrison

Traumasoft.com? You’ll find all of the information there. If you want to see more of the actual software, you can go on and request a demo. And depending on where you are, it could be myself or some of my colleagues will reach out to you and show you whatever you want to see. We have a conference coming up next year in February. It’s a user conference, but we’d also invite people to come. It’s going to be in Orlando. It’s not going to be during a hurricane season. We had that last year. We were flying out as fast as we could when the conference ended, the hurricane hit.

[00:39:45] – Zack Borst

We had a training event in Orlando in end of November. Everything was still being impacted by Hurricane Ian at that point.

[00:39:54] – RJ Morrison

Myself and a couple of my colleagues were jumping in a car from Orlando to go to Tampa to get on a flight to fly to Boston just to get out of there.

[00:40:09] – RJ Morrison

It’s going to be at Margaritaville this year. You can reach out to the website. You can reach out to myself. I’ll share with Zach my information and introduce you to some of our current clients.

[00:40:32] – Zack Borst

Awesome. Well, thank you, RJ. I really appreciate it. Like I said, we don’t generally pitch software or stuff unless we really like it. And actually, to be honest, I did more background with you guys than I have in almost any of my podcasts. Victor. Shout out to Victor, who he does his homework, and he tracked everything down, and he came up with some cool things to talk about. But I really appreciate having you on. I think what you guys are doing is great. Definitely. Check out Code Green Codegreencampaign, which is the foundation for EMS, mental health and suicide prevention. I think that’s another huge cause. And thank you everyone for listening. Remember, like, subscribe, thumbs up, five stars, all that stuff. Comment on everything. Talk to me. I want to hear from you. The reason I found RJ was because someone sent me a message randomly, and I want to talk to you all. You don’t want to just listen to me chat all the time. And we want to go out and learn about the cool stuff, like Traumasoft. So. Thanks, RJ. Have a good rest of your day.