January 26, 2006 -  At their December 19^th, 2005, meeting, the CAAS Panel of Commissioners granted accreditation to six new agencies, including Southwest Ambulance of Southern Arizona, Tucson; Southwest Ambulance of New Mexico, Las Cruces; AmbuServe, Inc., of Hawthorne, California; Metro West Ambulance, Inc. of Hillsboro, Oregon; American Medical Response of Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Lancaster EMS of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Four agencies received their full three-year reaccreditations, including Ambucare, Inc. of Bremen, Georgia; American Medical Response of Western Michigan, Grand Rapids; Richmond Ambulance Authority (AMR), Richmond, VA; and American Medical Response, Los Angeles, Cerritos, California.

There are currently 99 CAAS-accredited agencies in 32 U.S. states and Nova Scotia, Canada, with almost 200 agencies working on new applications.

Agencies wishing to learn more about the benefits of CAAS accreditation may register for the March 21^st, 2006, seminar in Baltimore, being held in conjunction with the 2006 EMS Today Conference. For more information or to register on-line, check the web site at www.caas.org or write to CAAS, 1926 Waukegan Road, Suite 1, Glenview, IL 60025. Agencies can also order standards from the CAAS website or request a free copy of “What Is the Value of Ambulance Accreditation?” from staff headquarters.

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The Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS) was formed in 1990 as a not-for-profit agency to be a standard bearer for medical transportation systems. It is sponsored by the American Ambulance Association, the American College of Emergency Physicians, the National Association of EMS Physicians, the National Association of State EMS Officials, the National Association of EMTs, and the International Association of Fire Chiefs, with liaison representation from The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. Accreditation signifies that ambulance services have met the “gold standard” determined by the ambulance industry to be essential in a modern emergency medical services provider.