Wyoming Ambulance Trip Reporting System – WATRS

WATRS – Wyoming Ambulance Trip Reporting System

The Wyoming Ambulance Trip Reporting System is available to all Wyoming EMS Agencies at no charge. The WATRS Next Generation is Wyoming’s electronic medical records system Patient Care Report for pre-hospital care. The WATRS Next Generation is a smart client software providing a single entry system. Enter the information once, a patient care report is generated, the information is entered and Wyoming Hospitals along with the Wyoming Trauma Programs has access to the report to merge into the Wyoming Patient (Trauma) Registry!

The Wyoming Ambulance Trip Reporting System provides the following to Wyoming Emergency Medical Services Agencies:

• A statewide standardized/uniform Patient Care Report (electronic medical record for transporting, non-transporting and air ambulances)
• WATRS is integrated into Wyoming Frontier Information WYFI Health Information Exchange with future integrations transferring PCR’s to receiving hospitals
• The Patient Care Report is accessible by every hospital where patients are transported to, if desired
• Provides Patient Care Reports for ground, critical care, non-transporting agencies and neonate transports
• The Patient Care Report ties into the future web based provider licensing system
• The ability to merge non-transporting agencies and transporting agencies patient care information into a single Patient Care Report for the receiving facility
• The Patient Care Report merges into the trauma registry system
• WATRS has the ability to function in disasters providing for the beginning of a patients continuum of care
• Physician Medical Directors have access to all records & agencies they sponsor
• WATRS has an internal performance improvement system to review and improve care
• WATRS has report writing capability for all services to evaluate their services and care
• WATRS has narcotic waste forms to track medications that are wasted
• Inventory components are available
• Compliance in WATRS provides legal reporting requirements for zoonotic diseases, influenza like illness monitoring, overdose reporting and more
• Quality and accurate completion of reports in WATRS satisfies the Rules and Regulations, “Wyoming Emergency Medical Services Act of 1977” W.S. 33-36-101 (2008 Revision), Chapter 4, Section 4 below:
  • RESPONSE AND REPORTING REQUIRMENTS Chapter 4
    • Section 4. Patient Care Reports
      • (a) To promote the uniform provision and accountability of the comprehensive emergency medical services and trauma system, all EMS agencies shall untilize the Division’s electronic patient care reporting system to document the provision os emergency medival services or related trauma care.
      • (b) EMS agencies shall provide patient care reports to any EMS agency or healthcare facility receiving the transfer of care of a patient to ensure the continuity of patient care and patient safety.
      • (c) At a minimum, the EMS agency shall, ensure that appropriate personnel at a receiving the transfer of care of a patient are aware of the patient’s presence, that systems and equipment necessary for the monitoring and safety of the patient are in place, and that a verbal report of the care provided by the ambulance service has been provided to the appropriate person.
      • (d) EMS agencies provider transport of a patient shall leave a copy of the patient care report with the receiving medical facility or EMS agency at the time of the transfer of care of the patient whenever practicable. All EMS agencies shall submit complete and accurate patient care reports for every request for service in the electronic system maintained by the Division no later than two (2) hours after the ambulance or agency is returned to service and available for response with the following exceptions:
        • (i) If a patient is transported to a receiving facility outside of the agency’s primary response area, and the distance and return time factors prohibit the upload of the patient care report into the system, then the patient care report shall be submitted to the Division’s electronic system no later than twelve (12) hours after the return to service;
        • (ii) If an equipment or system failure occurs that prohibits the upload of the patient care report into the system, then the patient care report shall be submitted to the Division’s electronic system no later than twenty-four (24) hours after the system is restored. In these circumstances, the EMS Agency or reporting party shall notify the Division. Password expiration or system access actions that are the responsibility of the EMS agency or person shall not be considered equipment or system failures:
        • (iii) The submission of an amendment or addendum to a previously submitted patient care report, which is submitted to ensure that the previous report is complete and accurate.
      • (e) Cardiac rhythm strips, 12 lead electrocardiograph (ECG) tracings, and any other reports generated by patient monitoring equipment, shall be considered to be part of the patient care report. Copies of these reports shall be provided to the receiving facility and uploaded into the Division’s electronic system.
      • (f) The Division may inspect the PCR records of any person operating an ambulance service covered by these rules.
    • Section 6. Other Mandatory Reporting Requirements.
      • (a) All EMS Agencies that come under the provisions of these rules shall submit to the Division a copy of any requests for information filed with them. Any such requests shall be sent to the Division by certified mail, return receipt requested, within thirty (30) days of receipt of such request.
      • (b) All EMS Agencies shall report any services of process, as defined in Chapter 1, Section 4(qq) of these rules to the Division within one (1) working day of receipt of service.
      • (c) Any EMS Agency or person licensed or authorized under these rules that has cause to believe or information indicating that any person or EMS Agency is, or may be in violation of these rules, shall report that information to the Division. Failure to report such information shall be considered aiding and abetting in the violation of these rules.
      • (d) EMS Agencies authorized to perform needle or surgical cricothyrotomy or rapid sequence intubation (RSI) shall notify the Division via e-mail within two hours of the performance of these procedures. The Division shall review all cases.
      • Ambulance Services shall notify the Division within two (2) hours of any incident or accident requiring reporting to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or the National Transportation Safety Board, or that inhibits or prohibits the ability of the ambulance to transport a patient.

All the above is provided at no charge by the Office of Emergency Medical Services thus saving Wyoming taxpayers a significant pass through cost in local communities.

For more information on the WATRS, please email Jay Ostby at Jay.Ostby@wyo.gov