The Office of EMS is pleased to introduce digital certification cards to EMS providers, EMS physicians and EMS agency leadership. Remember the days when you had to carry your printed certificate around and hope not to lose it? Those days are gone!
Digital certificates make keeping your certification with you easier than ever. The certificates are easy to pull up from a cell phone or computer. Providers can now download their certification card directly to their devices and keep it with them in digital format wherever they go! Digital certificates also make it a snap for an employer or organization to check and verify your certification levels.
Digital certification cards will be available beginning October 27, 2020. Accessing a digital version of your certification card is as easy as logging into the Virginia EMS Portal. If you printed or saved/stored your digital certification card on Tuesday, October 27, 2020, you will need to revisit the Virginia EMS Portal and download a new copy. There was an error in programming which malformed the data in your QR code used for recording continuing education credit.
A fact sheet on digital certification cards can be found by clicking this link.
Why transition to digital certification?
- EMS providers lose their certification cards, frequently! With digital certification cards providers never have to worry about replacement cards because providers will always have access to the digital certification for the duration of their certification period.
- Saving taxpayer money! Certification card stock, the cost of envelopes and postage, manpower to print, fold and stuff cards all cost money! Money which could be better spent on new technology resources, increased funding for the Rescue Squad Assistance Fund, and other benefits to the EMS system as a whole.
- Instead of faxing or mailing copies of your certification card to your employer or anyone requesting proof of your training, just e-mail them your Virginia EMS Certification card. It’s fast and easy!
- Be on the cutting edge and go green! Save our valuable natural resources whenever possible.
Concerned about Safety and Security?
Verify any Virginia EMS certification quickly on the Office of EMS website. This website allows for a search by a certificate number, first and last name and/or agency. If you are an employer and your employee has given you his or her Virginia EMS certification, or even just the certification number, you can use it to search for the certificate to validate that it’s valid as well as see when it expires.
This tool makes compliance and HR record keeping a breeze. Just go to the Virginia Office of EMS Digital Certification Verification web page and search for the certificate number you are trying to verify.
Once you’ve had a digital certification card, you’ll have a hard time going back to “the way we used to do it.”
Please see the online training for this new module for how to access digital certification cards.