Welcome to CAAS

The Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS) was established to encourage and promote quality patient care in America’s medical transportation system.   CAAS is an independent Commission that established a comprehensive series of standards for the ambulance service industry.

CAAS accreditation signifies that your service has met the “gold standard” determined by the ambulance industry to be essential in a modern emergency medical services provider. These standards often exceed those established by state or local regulation.  The CAAS standards are designed to increase operational efficiency and clinical quality, while decreasing risk and liability to the organization.

The process includes a comprehensive self-assessment and an independent external review of the EMS organization. This independent process provides verification to your Board of Directors, city council, medical community and others that quality care is provided to the community.

All ambulance systems are eligible for the three-year accreditation including private, public, fire department and hospital-based.

Quick Paths to Understanding CAAS

Praise for CAAS

Seeking CAAS accreditation seemed to be a natural extension of our commitment to providing a higher level of emergency medical services to our communities and our patients. The accreditation process has served as the single most effective way of educating our managers and field staff of the need to continually evaluate and improve our organization’s performance.

Scott A. Moore, Esq.
Principal Advisor
EMS Resource Advisors LLC
Topsfield, MA

CAAS Accreditation
2017-12-06T19:35:32+00:00

Scott A. Moore, Esq.
Principal Advisor
EMS Resource Advisors LLC
Topsfield, MA

Seeking CAAS accreditation seemed to be a natural extension of our commitment to providing a higher level of emergency medical services to our communities and our patients. The accreditation process has served as the single most effective way of educating our managers and field staff of the need to continually evaluate and improve our organization’s performance.
HEMSI uses accreditation to validate to our community we are meeting the standards that will make a difference for our patients. We have experienced a significant benefit internally from the process helping us investigate and appraise ourselves in our operation. We have developed consistency in our processes and refined them by aligning them with our industry’s best practices.

Jon Howell
CEO
Huntsville Emergency Medical Services, Inc. (HEMSI)
Huntsville, AL

CAAS Accreditation
2017-12-06T19:16:40+00:00

Jon Howell
CEO
Huntsville Emergency Medical Services, Inc. (HEMSI)
Huntsville, AL

HEMSI uses accreditation to validate to our community we are meeting the standards that will make a difference for our patients. We have experienced a significant benefit internally from the process helping us investigate and appraise ourselves in our operation. We have developed consistency in our processes and refined them by aligning them with our industry’s best practices.
The CAAS standards guarantee high quality in all aspects of ambulance service operation while recognizing creativity and individuality in the way those standards are met.

David Habben
CAAS Site Reviewer
Boise, ID

CAAS Accreditation
2017-12-06T19:37:01+00:00

David Habben
CAAS Site Reviewer
Boise, ID

The CAAS standards guarantee high quality in all aspects of ambulance service operation while recognizing creativity and individuality in the way those standards are met.
The value of CAAS Accreditation for the Henderson Fire Department cannot be fully described, other than stating that it is our “secret weapon” to meeting the continuous challenge of excellence. The standards help us to ensure that we are consistently meeting or exceeding the highest expectations of our citizens and the industry. Since our first accreditation in 1999, the CAAS Accreditation process has proven itself over and over again as the number 1 planning tool in our “quality toolbox”. The Henderson Fire Department deeply values the commitment to excellence that CAAS stands for, and we look forward to living up to that challenge in the future.

Scott Vivier
Deputy Fire Chief – Support
City of Henderson Fire Department
Henderson, NV

CAAS Accreditation
2017-12-06T19:29:32+00:00

Scott Vivier
Deputy Fire Chief – Support
City of Henderson Fire Department
Henderson, NV

The value of CAAS Accreditation for the Henderson Fire Department cannot be fully described, other than stating that it is our “secret weapon” to meeting the continuous challenge of excellence. The standards help us to ensure that we are consistently meeting or exceeding the highest expectations of our citizens and the industry. Since our first accreditation in 1999, the CAAS Accreditation process has proven itself over and over again as the number 1 planning tool in our “quality toolbox”. The Henderson Fire Department deeply values the commitment to excellence that CAAS stands for, and we look forward to living up to that challenge in the future.
Through CAAS accreditation EMS agencies are optimally positioned to address the innumerable challenges facing EMS today. This includes tough issues such as risk management, legal requirements, fiscal accountability, and patient safety. CAAS accreditation tells the community that your EMS agency cares enough to meet the “Gold Standard”.

Kathy J. Rinnert, MD, MPH, FACEP
University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX Professor,
Department of Emergency Medicine, Director,
EMS Fellowship Program, EMS Medical Director

CAAS Accreditation
2017-12-06T16:54:31+00:00

Kathy J. Rinnert, MD, MPH, FACEP
University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX Professor,
Department of Emergency Medicine, Director,
EMS Fellowship Program, EMS Medical Director

Through CAAS accreditation EMS agencies are optimally positioned to address the innumerable challenges facing EMS today. This includes tough issues such as risk management, legal requirements, fiscal accountability, and patient safety. CAAS accreditation tells the community that your EMS agency cares enough to meet the “Gold Standard”.
We believe there is great value in having an external party who is well versed in the best practices of EMS put us through our paces. We are a very process oriented organization and find that the CAAS accreditation audit is a great way to ensure our processes are functioning as designed. There’s no better validation of the quality of our processes than the CAAS accreditation audit. Not only does the CAAS accreditation validate the status of our vital processes, it also provides an added level of assurance for the community we serve that they have the right people on the job.

Joe Penner
Executive Director
Mecklenburg EMS Agency (Medic)
Charlotte, NC

CAAS Accreditation
2017-12-06T17:55:47+00:00

Joe Penner
Executive Director
Mecklenburg EMS Agency (Medic)
Charlotte, NC

We believe there is great value in having an external party who is well versed in the best practices of EMS put us through our paces. We are a very process oriented organization and find that the CAAS accreditation audit is a great way to ensure our processes are functioning as designed. There’s no better validation of the quality of our processes than the CAAS accreditation audit. Not only does the CAAS accreditation validate the status of our vital processes, it also provides an added level of assurance for the community we serve that they have the right people on the job.
CAAS is not the cheapest way to be in the ambulance business. It’s the RIGHT way! Every member of our organization believes this stronger now than ever before.

Donald Lee McCown, Jr.
CO, Compliance
Medshore Ambulance Service
Anderson, SC

CAAS Accreditation
2017-12-06T19:33:02+00:00

Donald Lee McCown, Jr.
CO, Compliance
Medshore Ambulance Service
Anderson, SC

CAAS is not the cheapest way to be in the ambulance business. It’s the RIGHT way! Every member of our organization believes this stronger now than ever before.