New Features

CARES (Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival)

• What - ePCR now supports the CARES (Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival) add-on module, adding approximately 36 supplemental cardiac arrest documentation fields across Scene/Response, Resuscitation, Destination Hospital Outcomes, Transfer Hospital Outcomes, Additional Hospital Data, and conditional “Other” text fields, with conditional display logic and export-support tooling (CARES criteria + a dedicated CARES view) to help agencies meet registry reporting requirements.

• Why - This provides a structured, registry-aligned way to capture the additional cardiac arrest data required by CARES participants, reducing manual workarounds, improving data completeness, and supporting consistent exports for state/local and national cardiac arrest reporting.

• How

  • Enable the module (super users only):

    • Go to Admin → Client → Modules

    • Toggle CARES Registry to Enabled

    • Click Save

  • Document CARES fields in ePCR (when enabled):

    • Complete CARES fields in their standard form locations (e.g., Response, Assessment → Cardiac Arrest, Billing/Outcomes & External Reporting)

    • Follow conditional prompts that appear based on parent selections (for example, DNR detail fields appear only when a DNR-related outcome is selected)

  • Configure CARES export eligibility:

    • Go to EMS Setup → Endpoints Configuration  → Add → Criteria

    • Click Add Condition

    • Select CARES Export Criteria and set your conditions

    • Click Save

• Use the CARES incident workflow:

  • Go to Incident List → Views

  • Select CARES View to filter cardiac arrest cases and run manual exports (if enabled for your configuration)

• Use Case - An agency participating in the CARES network enables the module to capture registry-required ROSC, defibrillation timing, and hospital outcome details, then uses CARES Export Criteria to automatically include only eligible cardiac arrest incidents for export while staff use the CARES View to review and manually export edge cases.

Critical Care EMS Module

• What - ePCR now includes a Critical Care EMS add-on module that introduces specialized documentation for interfacility and critical care transports, including maternal/perinatal fields, an Ins & Outs grid with automatic Total In/Total Out/Net Fluid calculations, ventilator settings and modes, and enhanced infusion tracking (including additional dose unit options and infusion timestamps).

• Why - Critical care and transfer agencies often require more granular transport documentation than standard EMS workflows, and this module helps teams record complex ventilator management, fluid balance, and infusion details accurately and consistently without relying on free-text narratives.

• How

  • Enable the module (super users only):

    • Go to Admin → Client → Modules

    • Toggle Enable Critical Care / Critical Care EMS to Enabled

    • Click Save

  • Document critical care workflows (when enabled):

    • Open the ePCR and complete critical care fields in the available module sections (e.g., Ins & Outs, Ventilator, Enhanced Infusions)

    • Review the automatically calculated Total In, Total Out, and Net Fluid values after entering intake/output volumes

    • In medication/procedure areas, use new infusion fields and specialized dose units (e.g., gm/hr, mcg/kg/hr) when applicable

    • Note: Some placeholder sections (e.g., flight/ECMO) may appear for future expansion and may not be required for current documentation

• Use Case - During a ventilator-dependent interfacility transfer, a transport team documents ventilator mode and settings, tracks urine output and IV intake in the Ins & Outs grid to confirm net fluid balance, and records infusion pump settings with start/stop timestamps to support clinical continuity at the receiving facility.

Peak Response Integration

• What - ePCR now supports importing patient care data from Peak Response into First Due care reports, automatically pulling in patient details, vitals, medications, and procedures through an in-report import workflow to reduce duplicate entry.

• Why - Agencies using Peak Response can streamline reporting by reusing existing patient care data, improving documentation accuracy while reducing time spent re-entering the same information across systems.

• How

  • Enable Peak Response import (administrator):

    • Go to Admin → Update Client → ePCR

    • Enable Enable Import Peak Response

    • Click Save

  • Grant setup permissions (administrator):

    • Go to Admin → Roles → [Role] → ePCR Permissions

    • Enable Peak Response - Setup

    • Click Save

  • Configure integration (authorized users):

    • Go to ePCR Setup → Peak Response

    • Enter required connection details/credentials

    • Click Save

  • Import data into a report (field user):

    • Open an active care report and click Import Peak Response

    • Search/filter for the correct record (e.g., last 5 days, patient name)

    • Select the record and confirm import to populate the mapped ePCR sections

• Use Case - A crew that documented care in Peak Response imports the record into an ePCR to instantly populate vitals and medication administrations, then focuses on completing narrative and validation steps instead of retyping clinical details.

Narrative Template Management

• What - ePCR now includes Narrative Templates, allowing administrators to create and manage standardized narrative blocks that providers can insert into care report narratives, preserving formatting (line breaks, spacing, and special characters) and supporting selection of one or multiple templates at once.

• Why - Standardized narrative templates help agencies improve consistency and completeness across reports, reduce documentation time for common scenarios, and support QA/QI by encouraging repeatable language and structure.

• How

  • Create/manage templates (administrator):

    • Go to EMS Setup → Narrative Template

    • Click Add New Template

    • Enter Name and Narrative Template content (formatting is preserved)

    • Set template to Active as needed, then click Save

  • Use templates in a report (field user):

    • Open an active care report and go to Narrative → Department Narrative

    • Click Use Template (appears only when at least one template is active)

    • Search/select one or more templates, preview content, then click Apply

    • Note: Templates insert at the cursor position or append to existing text and do not overwrite existing narrative content

• Use Case - An agency creates templates for refusal-of-care, interfacility transfer, and cardiac arrest narratives so crews can quickly insert compliant language, then customize patient-specific details without losing standardized formatting.

Patient Record Merge Functionality

• What - Patient Record Management now supports merging duplicate patient records into a single primary record, reassigning all associated incidents to the primary EMS Patient ID, marking secondary records as inactive, and recording a full audit trail in a new Merge History view (including conflict warnings for DOB/Sex/Gender differences and required acknowledgment when conflicts exist).

• Why - Duplicate patient records can fragment incident history and complicate review, billing, and analytics; merging restores a unified patient timeline while maintaining auditability and protecting historical incident details.

• How

  • Enable access (administrator):

    • Go to Admin → Roles → [Role]

    • Enable Merge Patient Records

    • Click Save

  • Merge records (authorized user):

    • Go to Patient Record Management

    • Select 2+ records using checkboxes

    • Click Merge Patients

    • Choose the Primary record in the merge modal

    • Review and acknowledge any conflict warnings (if shown), then click Merge Patients

    • Verify results in the primary record’s Incidents tab and Merge History tab

    • Note: Merges are irreversible; secondary records become Inactive and incidents are permanently reassigned to the primary EMS Patient ID

• Use Case - After discovering duplicate records created under “Nick” and “Nicholas,” an administrator merges them so all incidents display under one patient profile, while the Merge History tab provides an audit trail for compliance and future review.

Manual Incident Notification Alerts

• What - ePCR administrators can now send manual reminder notifications from the Incident List to personnel associated with selected In Progress incidents, using configurable recipient categories and delivery methods (Notification Center, Email, or both), with deduplication to prevent multiple notifications to the same person for the same incident and audit logging for traceability.

• Why - This enables proactive follow-up on incomplete documentation, helping agencies improve completion rates and reduce delays without relying solely on downstream QA/QI workflows.

• How

  • Configure notification settings (administrator):

    • Go to EMS Setup → Notifications → Incident List Notification

    • Select Delivery Type (Notification Center, Email, or both)

    • Choose recipient categories (e.g., creator, crew, primary caregiver, member completing report)

    • Click Save

  • Grant permission to send notifications (administrator):

    • Go to Admin → Roles → [Role] → ePCR → Incident List Permissions

    • Enable Send ePCR Notifications to Personnel When Report Needs Attention

    • Click Save

  • Send notifications (authorized user):

    • Go to ePCR → Incident List

    • Select one or more incidents with In Progress status

    • Click Send Notification

    • Review the confirmation message and (optionally) verify entries in Incident Audit List

    • Note: The button remains disabled until at least one In Progress incident is selected, and notifications are not sent for Completed incidents

• Use Case - After a high-call-volume shift, a supervisor selects several In Progress incidents and sends reminders to the responsible crew members so reports are completed before end-of-tour, while the audit log captures who was notified and when.

Automated Outcome Notifications

• What - When outcome data is received from external sources (e.g., integrations that populate outcome fields after completion), the system can automatically notify configured recipients via Notification Center and/or Email, using selectable recipient categories (crew roles and QA/QI contact types) with deduplication to ensure each person receives only one notification per outcome event.

• Why - Automated outcome notifications help crews and reviewers learn from patient outcomes, support quality improvement workflows, and ensure outcome updates are seen promptly without requiring manual monitoring.

• How

  • Configure outcome notification recipients (administrator):

    • Go to EMS Setup → Notifications → Outcome Notification Settings

    • Select the desired recipient categories (or Do not send notifications)

    • Click Save

    • Note: Do not send notifications is mutually exclusive and disables all other selections

  • Configure delivery method (administrator):

    • Go to General → Notifications

    • Set Outcome Notification delivery to Notification Center, Email, or both

  • Operational behavior:

    • Outcome notifications trigger automatically when outcome fields are populated after incident completion and include a View Incident link that follows normal authentication and access rules

• Use Case - A medic receives an outcome notification when hospital disposition information arrives post-call, then opens the linked incident to review the outcome and incorporate learnings into future care and QA discussions.

Feature Enhancements

Endpoint Criteria: Transported To Destination

• What - Export endpoints now include a Transported To criteria option (mapped to destination name) with an In operator and a searchable multi-select parameter list populated from Facility Management (including special values like Not Applicable/Not Recorded/Not Reporting), enabling destination-based export filtering that can be combined with other endpoint criteria.

• Why - Destination-based filtering supports hospital- or integration-specific routing so agencies can export only the incidents relevant to a particular endpoint, reducing unnecessary transmissions and improving downstream data matching.

• How

  • Configure the criteria:

    • Go to EMS Setup → Devices → [Endpoint] → Criteria

    • Click Add Condition

    • Set When to Transported To

    • Confirm Condition = In

    • Open Parameter and select one or more facilities (or special values), then click Save

    • Note: When multiple destinations are selected, the criteria matches if the incident destination equals any selected value (OR behavior within the parameter list)

• Use Case - An agency sends XMLs to a hospital partner only when patients are transported to that hospital, while all other transports are excluded from that endpoint to prevent duplicate or irrelevant feeds.

Auto-populate Unit Transport and Equipment Capability from Apparatus Record

• What - The Unit Transport and Equipment Capability field now auto-populates based on the configured capability of the selected apparatus, whether assigned via CAD import or manual primary-unit selection, and updates dynamically if the primary unit changes while remaining editable for overrides.

• Why - This reduces repetitive data entry, improves consistency between apparatus configuration and documentation, and strengthens NEMSIS data quality by aligning ePCR values with standardized apparatus settings.

• How

  • Configure apparatus capability (administrator):

    • Go to Apparatus List → Edit Apparatus → EMS Data

    • Set Unit Transport and Equipment Capability

    • Click Save

  • Use in ePCR (field user):

    • In the ePCR Response section, select/designate the Primary apparatus (or import via CAD)

    • Verify the auto-populated value and edit it only if the incident requires an override

    • Note: If the apparatus has no configured capability, the field remains blank and follows the existing manual-entry workflow

• Use Case - When CAD assigns the responding ambulance, the ePCR automatically fills the transport/equipment capability value so crews don’t have to select it on every report, while QA sees consistent values across the fleet.

Endpoint Option to Strip eDevice.05 from XMLs

• What - Endpoints now include a per-endpoint configuration option to exclude eDevice.05 (Medical Device Waveform Graphic) from transmitted XML files, reducing payload size while keeping the XML NEMSIS-valid.

• Why - Some destinations reject large payloads or do not accept waveform graphics; stripping eDevice.05 helps improve transmission success and efficiency without altering other endpoint behaviors.

• How

  • Enable stripping per endpoint:

    • Go to EMS Setup → Endpoint Configuration → General

    • Set Exclude eDevice.05 – Medical Device Waveform Graphic to Yes

    • Click Save

    • Note: Default is No to preserve current behavior, and the setting applies only to the configured endpoint

• Use Case - An agency configures a hospital integration endpoint to strip waveform graphics to avoid file-size rejections, while keeping waveform data enabled for other endpoints that support it.

Print Report: Stroke Section and StrokeScaleGroup Fields

• What - The print report PDF now includes the full Stroke section and StrokeScaleGroup fields from Vitals, ensuring documented stroke assessments (including standard and custom stroke questions) appear in printed output.

• Why - This supports complete clinical documentation handoff, QA review, and medical record needs by ensuring stroke assessment details are available in print, not only within the digital ePCR.

• How

  • Generate the print report:

    • Open an incident and complete the Stroke assessment section and related Vitals stroke scale fields

    • Use Print Report to generate the PDF

    • Review the printed output to confirm Stroke and stroke scale values display as documented

    • Note: Formatting follows the existing print report section layout for consistency

• Use Case - For a suspected stroke patient, crews document a stroke scale type and score in Vitals and confirm symptom resolution in the Stroke section, then print a report that includes the full assessment for hospital records and internal QA.

Fixes

• No fixes in this release.