TransCare Medical Transporation Services, a division of the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, is a CAAS accredited medical transportation provider in Tampa Bay, Florida
Leadership:
CEO: David Braughton
COO: Terence Ramotar, EMT-P
TransCare Director: Patrick McKeon, NREMT-P
Medical Director: Jason Johnson D.O.
CAAS Coordinator: Jessica Gonzalez, EMT
Location:
One Crisis Center Plaza
Tampa, Florida 33613
Phone: (813) 964-1594
Website: www.crisiscenter.com
Key Statistics:
Provider type:
Not for Profit Corporation (501c3)
Number of Medical Transports:
Approximately 29,000
Estimated Population of Total Area Served:
1,229,000
CAAS Q&A - February 2012
Q. What administrative improvements have you seen?
A. The day-to-day flow of our administrative processes has greatly improved. Through time and effort, our guidelines, policies and procedures were refined and standardized allowing us greater consistency and an overall stability to our operation.
Q.What financial benefits has your agency derived?
A. Although our financial practices are consistently sound, CAAS accreditation has led to stronger training and employee development practices in areas of documentation and clinical care, which in turn, leads to improved collection rates.
Q. What operational changes have been put into place? How have these processes benefited your agency?
Operationally, our practices are data driven and based on best practices. We are more aware of the importance and relationship to practices matching policy, which makes you a stronger, more solid organization.
Q. Has accreditation led to a decrease in employee turnover at either the provider or management level?
A.This is an interesting question, but yes. Employees understand the dedication and resolve of the organization and feel proud to be a part of an organization that is recognized as one of the industry’s best.
Q. Have your employees noted other improvements in their work environment as a result of accreditation?
A. Employees report a feeling of pride and that they are looked at as “a step above the rest”.
Q. Do you feel you provide better patient care as an accredited agency and in what areas?
A. Caring for patients is what we do best, however we improved upon an area of high liability, the patient refusal. Our policy is to involve Supervision in the refusal process to add a third party into the discussion to make sure all of the patients’ needs are addressed and that all opportunities are offered to aid in providing any needed medical care.
Q. What CQI/ Performance Improvement initiatives led to these clinical improvements?
A. Based on the process improvements developed during our CAAS processes, our CQI program now involves “high risk” responses, such as RLS upgrades, delays, and patient refusals at are each reviewed by the Training and QA staff. Additionally, we added Supervision into the refusal chain requiring a “third party” involvement into the refusal process to make sure all risks and options have been addressed.
Q. How has CAAS improved your agencies Safety, Loss Prevention and Risk Management programs?
A. The biggest benefit we have seen in this area is the practice of collecting and archiving data. We have improved our electronic incident reporting, tracking and follow-up which includes automatic referrals to Human Resources, Senior Leadership or whichever department the matter involves. This also helps with tracking of trends in patient care or workers compensation and has allowed for a large electronic data base for accident documents, photos and event recorder videos.
Q. What other benefits has management noted following accreditation?
A. In addition to all of the previously mentioned benefits of accreditation, management has seen an improvement in the standardization of policies and procedures agency wide, improvements in administering the agencies progressive discipline policies and an overall reduction in preventable accidents and sentinel events including falls, at-fault accidents, etc. We have also noticed greater recognition as a premier provider of ambulance services in our community, the out-pouring of praise and support for the hard work and agency wide dedication to excellence has been quite visible.
Q. What advice would you give other agencies that are considering or are on the fence about CAAS accreditation?
A. It may seem like a long road, but the positive changes your organization will see, from process improvement, employee morale and recognition in the market is well worth the investment of time and capital.
Q. For an agency that is just about ready for their first on-site review, what words of advice would you share?
A. TransCare Medical Transportation completed our site review in November of 2011. We were granted a 3-year accreditation on December 20, 2011. Our advice is to show your agency off proudly, the work you did to get to the point of a site review speaks to the caliber of your organization. The CAAS examiners are experienced EMS professionals who not only look at the work you have done, but are able to share some best practices from the many agencies they see as part of their duties.
TransCare In Action
CAAS Announces New Electronic Paperless Application Submission Process
