BIG CHANGES ARE HAPPENING IN PATIENT CARE REPORTS
Coming to New York State as of July 1, 2021, will be new and faster reporting on all patient care in New York State. Electronic reporting, which some agencies already participate in, will be continued AND HIGHLY ENCOURAGED. Article 30 all first response services to submit all call reporting documentation to the Department, in a format approved by the NYSDOH for use in quality improvement programs.
All agencies using paper PCRs “will be required to upload a copy of the paper-based record to the Department’s Paper PCR Portal”. All agencies will have to ensure that reports are received WITHIN four (4) hours of the completion of the call. The Agency may delegate management of its e-PCR system to a third-party; however, the Agency remains legally responsible for assuring the proper collection, use, protection, and confidentiality of data within the e-PCR system, as well as for the timely submission of data to the Region.
Patient Care Reports traditionally include, at the minimum, documentation of the event or incident, the patient’s medical condition, treatment provided and the patient's medical history. The primary purpose of the Patient Care Report (PCR) is to document all care and pertinent patient information as well as serving as a data collection tool. When transferring patient care to the hospital, the EMS crew must provide the receiving hospital staff with both verbal and written reports at the time of patient transfer to ensure adequate continuity of care as per Article 30 of the Public Health Law.
Submission to the area region can occur electronically for ePCR platforms and through the Paper Portal for Paper PCRs. The NYS ePCR Direct Entry Platform is available to all qualified New York State EMS agencies for free. An agency can utilize the NYS ePCR Direct Entry Platform through an authorized ePCR vendor at their own expense. All EMS Agencies that are not already submitting electronically must complete a DOH 5136 and submit it to their Regional Program Agency no later than June 30th, 2021, no matter which method is chosen for submission, however if the agency is already charting electronically and already has notified the region, no additional paperwork is required.
Agencies participating in the state’s Continuing Education Recertification (CME) Program MUST submit their PCRs through the NYS ePCR Direct Entry Platform to meet the requirements. The submission of paper PCRs to the web portal does NOT meet the requirements for agency participation in the Continuing Education Recertification (CME) Program; the Direct Entry Electronic PCR Platform DOES meet the requirements for agency participation in the CME Program. The 2019 release of the CME Program Manual states that “Agency participants must comply with Bureau of EMS Policy Statement 12-02 and complete a Patient Care Report (PCR) for every EMS response. Agencies participating in the CME recertification program will be required to submit PCRs to the department electronically on or before January 1, 2022.”
All the details regarding the submission of ePCR/PCRs are spelled out in NYS EMS policy statement 21-04, “SUBMISSION OF PATIENT CARE REPORTS AS OF JULY 1st, 2021”. Agencies should contact their Regional Program Agency if they need assistance; to reach the Bureau of EMS Data and Informatics Unit, e-mail emsdata@health.ny.gov
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