AUSTIN, TX (Jan. 7, 2020) – ESO, the leading data and software company serving emergency medical services (EMS), fire departments, and hospitals, today shared the trends it predicts will have the biggest impact on fire departments in 2020: Accountability in the way departments deploy resources for emergencies will increase; provider safety will be an increasingly important topic; using real-world data for recruiting will come into play; and we’ll see a greater focus on community risk reduction.
“We are seeing a cultural shift across a number of areas in fire departments in 2020,” said Shelley Koegler, Vice President of Fire for ESO. “In particular, provider safety and leveraging data for hiring and managing the workforce will become more prevalent. Additionally, an increased focus on community risk reduction will play a key role for organizations.”
Key Fire Predictions for 2020:
- Increased accountability for emergency response will be an area of focus:
City/County governments and other similar organizations will push fire departments to report on deployment efforts and responses to emergency situations. This will focus on when and how dollars are spent and requires better documentation and tracking of responses, resources and equipment. Additionally, there will be a more in-depth evaluation of the deployment module to adhere to standards.
- Provider safety is already top of mind but will continue to evolve as a critical issue:
Provider safety encompasses many different areas of safety, including cancer awareness, mental health and violence against first responders. Technology and discrete data will be used to identify specific areas of concern and exposure to risk for providers. Additionally, we will see a more cultural and systemic shift by responders to track and report exposures and events that will help with retention and longevity.
- Data will become a powerful recruiting tool:
Data is a powerful tool that helps organizations identify areas for improvements, identify areas of concern for providers and helps first responders understand a situation before deployment and response. Data will now help departments be smarter and more efficient with recruiting to hire the best person for the job. These data should improve retention rates as well.
- Community Risk Reduction will leverage the power of community:
We will see an even greater focus on community risk reduction in 2020, including injury prevention. We will see greater community involvement and shared accountability through local, regional and national partnerships to create a groundswell and drive awareness.
Download the 2020 Fire Predictions whitepaper here.
About ESO
ESO is dedicated to improving community health and safety through the power of data. Since its founding in 2004, the company continues to pioneer innovative, user-friendly software to meet the changing needs of today’s EMS, fire departments, and hospitals. ESO currently serves thousands of customers throughout North America with a broad software portfolio, including the industry-leading ESO Electronic Health Record (EHR), the next generation ePCR; ESO Health Data Exchange (HDE), the first-of-its-kind healthcare interoperability platform; ESO Fire and ESO FIREHOUSE Software for fire departments; and ambulance revenue recovery/billing software. ESO is headquartered in Austin, Texas. For more information, visit www.eso.com.
