|
What
comes to mind when pondering the thought of one
person improving an established critical service
that affects thousands? Perhaps it is a feeling
of skepticism–feeling it is a difficult task for
anyone to accomplish. Or perhaps a feeling of
having a hero in our midst – don’t we all
love to hear those success stories that seem to
‘beat the odds’?
Well, Tony Smelley probably wouldn’t claim
“hero” status, but his story is quite
impressive.
In early 1992, Tony was about to make a major
change that would not only affect his life, but
also the lives of many who lived in the
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA area. He had been
working as a paramedic for an ambulance provider
for several years, but felt that he could
improve the level of service available to area
residents. So, in April of that year, he founded
a new organization, called NorthStar Paramedic
Services, Inc., whose foundational company
mission became “Excellence in Prehospital
Emergency Medicine.” Today, NorthStar services
nine counties in Alabama: Blout, Tuscaloosa,
Jefferson, Pickens, St Clair, Talladega, Sumter,
Lauderdale, and Franklin. In addition to
offering Emergency Medical Services, NorthStar
also offers transportation services and EMS as
well as Physician Billing Services through their
subsidiary, Capstone Claims, Inc. Additional
impressive stats include: 75 ALS/BLS ambulances,
10 wheelchair units, Critical Care Transport
Services, 50,000+ patient contacts and
transports per year, and the operation of a
computer-aided dispatch center and a Medic
Assist Center (a transcription-based run
report/data collection/ QA/QI system).
Striving to hire the most qualified medical and
support personnel, NorthStar grew from one to
365 (plus) employees in thirteen years. The
company has found great success because they
have continued to keep personal relationships at
the core of their focus, and have utilized
tools, such as the latest technology, to help do
so. “NorthStar EMS strives to provide
high-caliber EMS, transportation, and billing
services through efficient use of technology in
order to allow more attention to personal
relationships,” says Jim Isbell, Director of
Information Systems for NorthStar. “While we
have expanded our use of technology rapidly in
the last few years, we are still a client- and
workforce-driven company, interested in
strengthening our alliances and improving our
market insertion; we have found that increasing
our use of technology makes us better able to
accomplish these goals.”
NorthStar credits the daily use of Sweet-Billing
software for a “great deal of their success.”
Jim explains, “We have used SweetSoft/Ortivus
products since our inception growing from PCAii
to A2000 to Amazon/Sweet-Billing and owe a great
deal of our success and growth to the ease of
use and capabilities of the software to meet our
fiscal and informational needs. We have found
that Ortivus’ willingness to listen to our needs
have helped drive this product platform to
better meet our complex needs.”
As NorthStar continued to grow in geographical
coverage, their need for a superior
computer-aided dispatch program that could
handle business demands became evident. “As an
initial partner in this version of Sweet-CAD, we
have found that while we are still scratching
the surface of the platform in terms of
capability, the scalability and extensibility of
the system meet our demands over a very large
geographic area and a variety of operational
formats,” said Jim. “We moved from a simple,
list-based CAD system to Sweet-CAD, and we are
constantly finding new ways to leverage the
information provided to help us make better
decisions as needs dictate.”
In addition to Sweet-Billing and Sweet-CAD,
NorthStar is also in the deployment stage of
utilizing another Ortivus software application:
GoTrack, which is an automatic vehicle location
program. “We are excited about the potential
gains in meeting customer needs in all of our
operations once we go live with the products,”
said Jim.
When asked what advice NorthStar would give
other EMS services, they insightfully said the
following:
“Too often companies are compelled to own
technology for technology’s sake and not with an
eye to what the organization’s goals are, and
that leads to a lot of ‘forgotten’ or ‘ignored’
systems. We believe it is very important to not
only look at what you want from technology in
terms of use and ROI, but to also look at who
stands behind the product. Can you talk to them?
Are they genuinely interested in solving your
problem in a timely manner? If you can’t trust
who is selling and supporting your solutions,
then you may as well plan on trashing your
investment and moving on to another vendor.
It is very easy to get lost in the myriad of
choices in EMS software, but it is worth the
effort to evaluate what your organization’s
particular needs are and evaluate all technology
acquisitions based on those guidelines, and not
the emotional impact of the ‘latest thing’ on
the market. Ask questions, demand answers and
expect results.”
Ortivus is proud to serve customers like
NorthStar, who share common viewpoints on what
it means to strive for ‘EXCELLENCE’ in our
industry.
|
