The Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS) Accredits First Massachusetts Agency

The CAAS Panel of Commissioners grants full three-year accreditation to Professional Ambulance of Cambridge, MA.

At their September 25^th, 2006, meeting, the CAAS Panel of Commissioners granted full three-year accreditation to Professional Ambulance of Cambridge, Massachusetts, bringing the number of CAAS-accredited agencies to 103 across the U.S. and Canada. In discussing their accreditation, Bill Mergendahl, President of Professional Ambulance said, “CAAS is a vital element of the structure and focus used to continuously improve all aspects of our operation. The CAAS process itself has driven us to excel. All services can benefit from working to reach this ‘gold standard.’”

The Panel of Commissioners also granted reaccreditation to seven agencies at their September meeting, including: Acadian Ambulance Service, Lafayette, Louisiana; American Medical Response, Colorado Front Range, Denver Colorado; Alliance Mobile Health, Rochester Hills, Michigan; Sunstar Emergency Medical Services, Pinellas County, Florida; Medic 1 Ambulance, Benton Harbor, Michigan; Vital Link, Inc., Batesville, Arkansas; and MedicWest, North Las Vegas, Nevada.

The CAAS-accredited agencies appear on the newly designed CAAS web site google map at www.caas.org. A new site design also allows you to ask and receive answers to frequently asked questions about accreditation, view in-depth profiles of CAAS-accredited agencies, and register for CAAS seminars and events online.

About CAAS: 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 EMT's, 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 providers.