Data Collection

Ambulance Patient Offload Time (APOT): The EMS Authority was mandated (Health and Safety Code 1797.120) to develop a statewide methodology for calculating and reporting ambulance patient offload times by a LEMSA. This statewide, standard methodology was based on input received from stakeholders, including but not limited to: hospitals, LEMSAs, public and private EMS providers.


California EMS Information System (CEMSIS): The California Emergency Medical Services Information System, also known as CEMSIS, is a database for EMS data. The goal of CEMSIS is to collect information about emergency medical care provided to patients by 9-1-1 system responders, ambulance companies, and hospitals across California. It is estimated that CEMSIS will catalogue over 6 million EMS events per year.


California Health Information Exchange (HIE): The goal of HIE programs is to facilitate secure access to health care data by appropriate individuals to provide safe, efficient, effective, equitable, patient-centered care. HIE relies on a bi-directional flow of data and should cover all aspects of the patient care continuum including dispatch, field care, transport, emergency department, hospital admission, hospital discharge, and practitioner care. Connecting EMS to the broader health care system through health information exchange will lead to better patient care, more efficient transitions of care, improved outcomes and experiences, and stronger disaster resilience.


Quality Improvement: Provides a standardization approach to identify the root causes of problems, intervene to reduce or eliminate these causes, and take steps to correct the process and recognize excellence in performance and delivery of care.