Data Compliance Report

The Division of Trauma and Critical Care within the Virginia Department of Health, Office of Emergency Medical Services (OEMS) has just released the EMS Data Submission Compliance Reports.  The following report is available:

April 2023 

May 2023 

June 2023

July 2023

August 2023

September 2023

October 2023

November 2023

December 2023

January 2024

February 2024

The reports are generated covering specific calendar months and are provided to the Director of OEMS, the Division of Regulation and Compliance Enforcement and the Rescue Squad Assistance Fund (RSAF) grants program.

When reviewing this report, please note the following as the report now provides additional information:

  • Dem File on Record:
    • Yes indicates the agency has submitted the required demographics data 
    • No indicates the agency has not submitted the required demographics data

Agencies listed as No must contact their EMS software vendor and work with them to ensure a NEMSIS 3.4 DEM file is submitted to the Virginia repository.  Agencies using ESO must also contact vendor support (support@eso.com) and work with them to ensure a NEMSIS 3.4 DEM file is submitted to the Virginia. 

  • Records Submitted – This indicates the total number of records an agency submitted to the Virginia data repository for processing for the month the report references.
  • Records Failed – This indicates the total number of records that failed validation/Schematron requirements and did not process into the Virginia data repository.  Refer to the FAQ (covered below) for general guidance on how best to address those as they must be reviewed and records submitted successfully as required per state regulations.  
  • Records Passed – This indicates the total number of records that did not fail validation/Schematron requirements and did process into the Virginia data repository for the month the report was created for.
    • Please note,  Even if a record processes into the Virginia Data repository, that record can still have a score of less than 100% due to validation warning issues, which need to be reviewed.   
  • Data quality score – This is based on the records that processed into the Virginia data repository.  Note: “Failed Records” are not calculated in the score because they were never received.  

The color shading indicates the following:

  • Green shading – Indicates the quality of the data submitted by the agency ranges from 98% and 100% (average to excellent).
  • Yellow shading – Indicates the quality of the data submitted by the agency ranges from 95% to 97.99% (below average).
  • Red shading – Indicates the quality of the data submitted by the agency ranges from 0.01% to 94.99% (poor). 
  • Reported as No Runs – Indicates the agency appropriately notified OEMS using approved methods that their agency had no responses for the month listed.  
    • For guidance on these approved methods, contact OEMS support.
  • Failed to Submit – Indicates the agency did not report any information to OEMS for the month in question.

As this report provides additional information when compared with previous data quality reports and the repository is different, an FAQ is also available (click here to download this).  The purpose of the PDF document is to provide information and basic guidance covering both the data quality report and the tools within the Virginia data repository available to all agencies.  

Prior to the reintroduction of data quality standards, OEMS wants to ensure EMS agencies have adequate time to become accustomed to reviewing the new data quality report and working in the current Virginia Data Repository to address data quality and data submission issues.

Note concerning Data Quality Standards and timeline

To ensure agencies have ample time to review and become familiarized with the data quality reports again, data quality standards are still on hold.  We anticipate it will take agencies about 60 days to work through the reports just published.  While this work is ongoing, future reports will be published as quickly as possible.  Our goal is to return to publishing these on the set schedule of 7 to 12 days after the end of each month.  Once a decision is made to lift this hold, ample notice will be communicated to EMS agency superusers.

We had previously planned to republish February to May 2022 reports.  However, since more time has passed than was anticipated, the decision was made to begin with new reports.  Should an agency want to see their revised data quality information for any of the previously posted months, please reach out to OEMS support.

While standards are on hold, agencies need to review the available reports and work with their EMS software vendor of choice regarding quality issues.  OEMS personnel are also available and willing to work with both the agency and the vendor to resolve data reporting deficiencies.  However, OEMS cannot advise agencies on software related changes since those may affect other auxiliary processes such as CAD or Billing.  OEMS will make recommendations based on the reporting standards but agencies should work directly with their vendors on implementing any changes.  Please keep in mind that it is the vendors responsibility to ensure their software meets both NEMSIS and Virginia reporting requirements.

EMS agencies listed on a report as “Failed to Submit” are encouraged to contact OEMS Support come up with solutions for your agency.  We also encourage EMS agencies to contact OEMS Support if there is any validation issue they cannot resolve or if they have questions around any validation item. If any software functionality is identified to have an effect on data quality, OEMS will work with the EMS software vendor to resolve it.

OEMS support is committed to working with all EMS agencies and EMS software vendors on data quality-related issues. Our goal is and always has been to come up with ways to improve data quality with minimal impact on EMS agencies while at the same time, fulfilling OEMS obligations regarding data research projects we participate in within and outside of Virginia.

Virginia Administrative Code – EMS Regulations require every licensed EMS agency to submit Patient Care Records with the required minimum data set on a schedule established by the Office of EMS (OEMS) as authorized in §32.1-116.1 of the Code of Virginia.

This report will provide each agency with information on their following measures:

  • Agency Demographic Information (must be updated every calendar year)
  • Agency Data Dictionary Compliance (data submitted matches what is required)

If your agency utilizes a third party data vendor, please contact your vendor representative for assistance in submitting compliant data per EMS Regulations.

For any questions regarding data quality, data submissions or about this website article, please contact
OEMS Support (support@vaemstcc.zendesk.com).