As the demands on emergency services continue to grow, so does the need for smarter, faster, and more connected solutions. Joe Graw, Chief Growth Officer at ImageTrend, is at the forefront of that evolution. With a deep commitment to using data to drive real change, Joe helps EMS agencies, fire departments, and hospitals unlock the full potential of their emergency response systems. In this interview, he shares how agencies across the country are using ImageTrend’s technology to shift from reactive crisis response to proactive emergency management—enhancing communication, improving patient outcomes, and preparing for the future of care. From real-time data sharing and predictive analytics to whole blood transfusion documentation and national interoperability, Joe discusses what’s working, what’s next, and how tech is transforming the way first responders save lives.
How are EMS agencies, fire departments, and hospitals using ImageTrend’s software to enhance their emergency response efforts?
EMS agencies, fire departments, and hospitals are using ImageTrend’s software to improve their emergency response efforts by leveraging the platform’s data collection, analytics, reporting, and interoperability capabilities. Here’s how these organizations benefit from ImageTrend’s solutions:
1. Streamlined Data Collection and Reporting
- Electronic Patient Care Reporting (ePCR): EMS agencies use ImageTrend’s ePCR software to document patient care during emergencies efficiently. This ensures accurate and standardized data collection for better care continuity.
- Records Management System (RMS): Fire departments use ImageTrend’s incident reporting software to capture scene information, track response times, and analyze operational performance.
- Hospitals use the software to integrate pre-hospital data into their systems, facilitating faster patient triage and treatment.
2. Improved Communication and Interoperability
- ImageTrend’s solutions enable seamless communication between EMS, fire departments, and hospitals. For example, real-time patient data can be shared with hospitals before arrival, allowing them to prepare for incoming patients more effectively.
- Fire departments and EMS teams can use integrated platforms to coordinate during multi-agency responses, ensuring a unified approach.
3. Data-Driven Decision Making
- The software provides advanced analytics and reporting tools that help agencies evaluate key performance metrics, such as response times, patient outcomes, and resource utilization.
- This data allows agencies to identify trends, optimize operations, and allocate resources more effectively.
4. Compliance and Accountability
- By maintaining accurate records, agencies can demonstrate accountability and improve transparency.
5. Quality Improvement and Training
- EMS agencies and fire departments can use ImageTrend’s analytics to review incidents, use scoring rules to assess critical indicators, identify areas for improvement, and develop targeted training programs for personnel.
- Hospitals can analyze pre-hospital and hospital care data to refine protocols and enhance collaboration with EMS providers.
6. Configurable Solutions
- ImageTrend’s software can be tailored to meet the specific needs of different organizations. This flexibility allows EMS agencies, fire departments, and hospitals to address their unique challenges and workflows.
7. Emergency Preparedness and Resource Management
- Fire departments and EMS agencies use the software to track equipment, personnel, and vehicle readiness, ensuring that resources are available for emergencies. Fire departments can also capture key site and building details prior to arrival to improve situational awareness.
- Hospitals can monitor trends in patient transport and arrival patterns to prepare for surges during large-scale incidents or disasters.
8. Integration with Public Health Initiatives
- ImageTrend’s platforms often integrate with public health systems, enabling agencies to contribute data for disease surveillance, overdose tracking, and injury prevention efforts.
- Collaborate™, ImageTrend’s secure, de-identified dataset representing more than 80 million EMS activations, supports public health research by uncovering meaningful insights to enhance patient care, advance emergency response practices, and address public health challenges.
By using ImageTrend’s software, EMS agencies, fire departments, and hospitals can enhance operational efficiency, improve patient care, and foster stronger collaboration across emergency services.
How does your software help organizations move from reactive to proactive emergency management?
ImageTrend’s software enables organizations to shift from reactive to proactive emergency management by leveraging Visual Pre Plans and Community Health Programs to improve preparedness, resource allocation, and risk mitigation.
ImageTrend’s Visual Pre Plans empower fire departments to make safer, more informed decisions at every stage. From pre-incident building assessments to real-time on-scene insights, responders get the right information when it matters most.
- Risk Identification: Organizations can create visual plans of buildings, neighborhoods, or public spaces, identifying potential hazards (e.g., chemical storage, fire risks, or vulnerable populations).
- Resource Positioning: Visual Pre Plans can help determine optimal staging areas for equipment, vehicles, and personnel, ensuring quicker responses when an incident occurs.
By using Visual Pre Plans, organizations are better equipped to anticipate risks and execute well-coordinated responses, reducing reaction times and improving safety outcomes during emergencies.
ImageTrend’s software helps organizations identify trends, predict emergencies, and address underlying health issues before they escalate into crises.
- Trend Analysis: Organizations can analyze local health data (e.g., spikes in asthma-related calls, opioid overdoses, or heat-related illnesses) to identify patterns and emerging risks.
- Targeted Interventions: Insights from community health data allow agencies to deploy resources for education, prevention, and outreach programs (e.g., distributing naloxone kits, improving air quality monitoring, or conducting wellness checks).
- Vulnerability Mapping: By combining demographic and health data, organizations can proactively focus on at-risk populations, ensuring they are prepared to support vulnerable groups during emergencies.
This approach enables emergency management teams to address root causes and mitigate risks before they lead to incidents, shifting the focus from reactive response to proactive prevention.
What are the key data points that departments should be tracking to streamline their operations effectively?
By leveraging data-driven insights, EMS agencies can identify bottlenecks, optimize workflows, and enhance patient outcomes. The right software doesn’t just collect data—it analyzes trends, streamlines communication, and enables seamless data sharing across internal systems and external partners like hospitals and medical facilities.
ImageTrend Elite includes configurable Dynamic Power Tools™ and Situation Tools™, allowing personnel to select scenarios that automatically populate common medications and procedures—eliminating unnecessary searching and reducing errors. With seamless integration, completed ePCRs can be automatically transmitted to receiving facilities, expediting the handoff of critical patient data.
ImageTrend’s Continuum enables agencies to benchmark performance against internal goals and national standards, helping them refine strategies and drive continuous improvement. By integrating these insights into daily workflows, EMS teams can streamline operations, reduce delays, and improve patient outcomes—ensuring a faster, more effective response when it matters most.
Looking ahead, what innovations are on the horizon for emergency management software, and how is ImageTrend preparing for them?
Enhanced Interoperability
As emergencies often require coordination across multiple agencies and jurisdictions, interoperability is key. Future software solutions will focus on creating unified platforms that enable seamless communication and data sharing between federal, state, local, and private entities. ImageTrend’s platform for EMS, Fire and Hospital is already designed to facilitate data sharing.
Whole Blood Transfusion: The Next Frontier for EMS
Despite its life-saving potential, whole blood transfusion faces significant adoption barriers in EMS. The biggest challenges include storage and transportation requirements, regulatory restrictions, training needs, and supply shortages.
Whole blood transfusions require accurate documentation and reporting, but the process doesn’t have to be complicated. With ImageTrend Elite, EMS teams can document whole blood treatment with just one click—ensuring efficiency while keeping the focus on patient care.
As more agencies implement whole blood programs, standardized documentation practices will continue to evolve. Within Elite, Power Tools provide a way for agencies to configure workflows and streamline documentation based on their specific needs.
To further support EMS teams, ImageTrend is working on publishing a pre-configured Power Tool in the ImageTrend Library, making it even easier for agencies to adopt a standardized approach.
One of our customers, the Burnsville Fire Department in Minnesota, recently became the first in the state to carry whole blood for transfusions. As more agencies launch similar programs, having efficient, user-friendly documentation tools will be critical to ensuring smooth adoption and compliance—and Elite is designed to support this process seamlessly.
The Power of the Treatment Query
EMS providers often arrive on the scene without the information they need. Patients may be unconscious, disoriented, or unable to communicate. Even when family members are present, they may not have essential health details. Providers are left to make critical decisions with incomplete information, which can delay treatment, lead to medical errors, or complicate documentation.
The Treatment Query feature empowers EMS agencies to securely access patient records from thousands of hospitals, clinics, and care providers via HIH. By leveraging the power of a national Qualified Health Information Network (QHIN), providers can instantly retrieve data such as current medications, allergies, and past medical history directly into their documentation workflow.
With a simple scan of a driver’s license or by entering basic demographics, crews can quickly query the network, review available patient information, and import selected data directly into their Elite incident report. The result is faster, more confident decision-making and significant time savings in documentation.
When EMS providers have access to better data, they make better decisions. Treatment Query delivers the critical information needed to provide faster, safer, and smarter patient care, all integrated seamlessly into the tools providers already use every day.
