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3rd Quarter, 2007
FireVISION is a quarterly publication from ACS Government Systems with fire-industry news, FIREHOUSE Software tips, and other helpful information. We hope you find this and future issues to be both informative and useful.
If you would like to be removed from our mailing list, see the instructions at the bottom of this page. If you have any questions or concerns related to the newsletter distribution, please email: FHdocumentation@acs-inc.com.
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EMS Billing Services comes to FIREHOUSE Software
To extend the existing capabilities of ACS FIREHOUSE Software and ACS EMS Billing Services, we are pleased to announce the joining of ACS EMS team members and resources with the current FIREHOUSE Software team to create the ACS Emergency Services Group. Although new to the FH team and clients, the EMS Services team has a strong history of success. The group offers EMS billing and collection services to multiple cities in the United States. Their largest customers are Houston, TX. and Philadelphia, PA. with 150,000 EMS transports each. ACS has been a premier provider of EMS Billing Services for more than 20 years, and has already collected in excess of $250 million for clients nationwide. In every case, we have increased collections and efficiency for our clients. We never focus on set collection rates, but instead on consistently increasing net revenues year after year. And the fact that many of our existing clients have been with us for almost as long as we have been in business is a testimonial to the success in these billing and collection efforts.
This new merger leads us to the introduction of our FH Billing Service for EMS Transports. FH Billing is a full service offering that seamlessly integrates EMS billing data collected from ACS FIREHOUSE Software and FH Mobile EMS, with ACS’ hosted EMS Billing Services. FH Billing Service makes it simple: EMS incident reports entered in FIREHOUSE Software or FH Mobile EMS are processed with industry-leading software by experienced and knowledgeable staff. The gathered billing information is transmitted to a centralized ACS Billing Operations Center. ACS Emergency Services staff will collect the medical debt on behalf of the EMS Provider. The Emergency Services team incorporates a comprehensive approach necessary for HIPAA compliance, providing a very important element of an agency’s overall HIPAA Compliance Plan.
FH Billing integrates the FIREHOUSE Software Product suite with these established billing services, giving our customers another valuable feature and opportunity.
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FHETS 2007 a huge success!
The 2007 FIREHOUSE Software Education and Training Seminar (FHETS) held October 1st - 4th at the Town and Country Resort & Convention Center in San Diego, CA was a tremendous success. 447 attendees were at this year's event, setting a new FHETS record. Thank you to everyone who attended this year. Many departments have begun to send multiple staff members to ensure everything can be attended during the 3 day event. This year, new sessions were introduced for FH regional user groups to get together, as well as FH client presentations on how they used the resources provided by FIREHOUSE Software. Both of these additions were welcomed and largely supported by the attendees.
We are still exploring location options and dates for the fall of 2008 at this time. We will post updates on the FIREHOUSE Software website when new details become available.
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Tips from the Field....
This column details different ways FH clients have put FIREHOUSE Software to work for their department. We encourage clients to submit tips and suggestions for future FireVISION articles. Feel free to email them to: FHdocumentation@acs-inc.com.
Requiring EMS vitals
Requiring vital signs is very common for department's collecting EMS patient record information. FH has an expanded option available within system rules to require pulse rate, respirations, respiratory rate, and other fields that allow to you select 0 absent, 999 unknown, or 888 Not Assessed. Here's an example of how to require the pulse rate field always, and have it accept 0 Absent for a value.
- Log in to FIREHOUSE Software with administrative security access.
- From the Administration menu, select System Rules and Default Values.
- Open the EMS group, highlight EMS_VITA, then press the SETUP button.
- Locate and highlight the PULSE_RATE, then select the ADD button.
- Choose the option for Require Field and press OK.
- Leave the checkbox for 'Require field always' checked, and press OK.
- A prompt should appear, asking the question "Do you want to require the field PULSE_RATE only if it is not marked as absent(not PULSE_ABS)?" Choose YES.
- Continue with requiring other vitals fields, or press OK to close System rules.
With this change, FH will permit a user to enter a the 0 Absent value in the required field and meet the requirement rule. If your version of FH is not permitting you to save 0 Absent as a value in the pulse rate field, the requirement setting needs to be reset. Follow the steps listed above, but delete the existing require field always rule first, then add it in again.
Attaching Files to FH records
Attaching additional files to FH records is a growing activity more departments are performing today. Users of FH Mobile applications can view these attachments in the field as well. Here are some recommended guidelines for attachments to FH records.
- The name of the physical file should be unique. Unique file names allow the files to be collected in one location on the network, instead of multiple folders or multiple drives.
- Keep the attached files to their smallest/compressed savable size. This will minimize the amount of database and physical drive space needed for database storage.
- When saving the attached file record in FH, select the checkbox for Store a copy on the server. This option was introduced for Enterprise Edition clients in version 6, and added for Standard clients with version 7. The feature saves a copy of the attachment within the FH database. So should something happen to the file on the physical drive, a copy will be retained within the FH database.
- Attachments in FH can be saved with options for File or Program on Disk, Embed Copy of File, or Website or Document. The option to Embed Copy of File requires the file size to be less than 250K.
- If you choose the option for File or Program on Disk, and wish to synchronize attachments with FH Mobile applications, you should have the files saved in the shared reference materials location or can manually copy the files to the attachments folder of the FH Mobile device, if you choose not to use the option for Store a copy on the server.
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ACS FIREHOUSE Software Notes
New Staff members and Role Changes
New Voices in Sales and Tech Support: The next time you call our main office, you will probably hear some new voices. Justin Powell joins the FH team as a sales representative with 2 1/2 years experience in the fire service. He is excited to be part of the FH sales team and looks forward to building many long lasting customers relationships. Justin is still employed by the City of Clive as a part time FF/Medic, where he is also a FH user. FH Technical Support has multiple new team members. Kim Phelps joins us from Agricredit Acceptance Finance. She spent her time with them working the service desk, providing administration and product support to inside employees and outside customers. Chad Sposeto joins us from Prairie Meadows, where he was a full time EMT. He too is currently still employed by the City of Clive as a part time FF/Medic, and FH user. The latest member just joining the support team is Linda Hazzard. Linda is just beginning her training, so you will hear from her soon. The FH support team is still actively pursuing additional new hires to join us in the upcoming quarter.
New Roles for Current FH Staff: As the new Emergency Services Group takes shape, some of our current staff are taking on new roles within the organization. Sanjay Kalasa expands his leadership to become the Vice President of the Emergency Services Group, where he will oversee both FH and EMS Billing Services divisions. Dave Stanton has been promoted to the Director of Operations for FH, and Jason Trotter has been promoted to the Director of FH Software Sales. The technical support leadership is now extended to Aaron Laird, Support Manager for FH desktop applications, and Derrick Brent, Support Manager for FH Mobile applications.
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More Changes in our future
A new home!
The main office of ACS Emergency Services Group and FIREHOUSE Software will be moving to a new location in mid-December. The new location provides a larger office space to increase our staffing in support, sales and development. The new address starting December 17th will be:
ACS Government Systems
2900 100th Street, Suite 309
Urbandale, Iowa 50322
All email, phone, and fax contact methods are scheduled and expected to remain the same. If your municipality has a partnership with ACS Government Systems for other services, please contact your Accounts Payable department to inform them of the FH home office address change to use in future payments of FH invoices.
A new Customer Relations Management software!
In the coming weeks, we will be implementing a new customer relations management software. The new software will enhance our inter-office tracking of contacts with prospects and clients for sales and support. The new software will give our clients a new self-service portal via our website as well. As the new features are implemented, the new portal will give our clients the ability to reference new online knowledgebase articles, update department contact and shipping information, as well as access available downloads for FIREHOUSE Software, FH Mobile, and FH CAD Monitor.
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Stop By and See Us
Look for us at these upcoming events in the coming months!
10/01/07 to 10/04/07: FH Education and Training Seminar (FHETS), San Diego, CA.
10/11/07 to 10/13/07: 19th Annual EMS Expo, Orlando, FL.
10/18/07 to 10/20/07: MN Fire Chiefs Annual Conference, Rochester, MN.
10/21/07 to 10/22/07: SW Div of Intl Assoc of Fire Chiefs, Wichita Falls, TX.
10/21/07 to 10/24/07: IL Fire Chiefs Annual Conference, Peoria, IL.
10/24/07 to 10/25/07: TX Dept of Insurance, Austin, TX.
10/26/07 to 10/27/07: KS State Assoc of Fire Chiefs, Great Bend, KS.
11/01/07 to 11/03/07: Assoc. of Fire Districts of NY Education Conf. & Vendor Expo Ellenville, NY.
11/01/07 to 11/04/07: VCOS Symposium in the Sun, Clearwater, FL.
11/06/07 to 11/09/07: TN Fire Inspectors Conference, Murfreesboro, TN.
11/07/07 to 11/10/07: IA EMS Conference, Des Moines, IA.
11/18/07 to 11/20/07: TX EMS Conference, Houston, TX.
11/19/07 to 11/19/07: Pennsylvania Fire & Emergency Services Conference & Dinner - Camp Hill, PA.
01/26/08 to 01/27/08: Long Island Fire, Rescue & EMS Show, Uniondale, NY.
02/08/08 to 02/08/08: 2008 Missouri Winter Fire School, Columbia, MO.
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Department Profile(s)
Each quarter, we profile a different department using FIREHOUSE Software. Many departments have been excited to be profiled recently, so we're profiling another two departments this quarter. If you would like your department profiled, please send information about your department to: FHdocumentation@acs-inc.com.
Profile # 1
Fire Department: Flower Mound Fire and Emergency Services
Location: Flower Mound, Texas
Fire Chief: Eric Metzger
Personnel: 60 Full-time firefighters and 12 Administrative and Prevention staff
Stations: 3
Pop. Served: 62,500
Calls: 3,600/year
Apparatus: 2 Engines, 1 Quint, 3 ALS Medics, 2 Brush Trucks, 1 Tender, 1 Light/Air Unit, 1 County HazMat Response Unit, 1 Fire/Rescue Boat, 2 Reserve Engines, 1 Reserve Medic, 1 Mini Brush Truck/ATV
Software: FIREHOUSE Software Version 7 Enterprise Edition
Comments: The Flower Mound Fire Department is centrally located in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metro area immediately north of D/FW Airport. Flower Mound is a diverse community of approximately 43 square miles, encompassing suburban living, light commercial and also a rural environmental element. The department was officially created in 1972 by a group of residents concerned with the threat of wildfires.The Flower Mound Fire Department is actively involved in local, regional and state activities. From trauma care to regional fire strike team response, Flower Mound is recognized as a leader in the region. You can find more interesting information for the fire department on their website: http://www.flower-mound.com/fire/
Profile # 2
Fire Department: Salem/Washington Twp Fire Department
Location: Salem, Indiana
Fire Chief: Mike Mead
Personnel: 10 Full-time/20 Volunteer
Stations: 1
Pop. Served: 7,500
Calls: 250/year
Apparatus: 2-engines, 1 50ʼ Quint, 2 Tanker, 1 Brush Truck, 1-Rescue, 1 First Responder Truck, 1 Chief car
Software: FIREHOUSE Software Version 7
Comments: Salem officially came to be in 1814 -- two years before Indiana became a state. The department was established April 18, 1878, to serve the community of Salem and Washington Twp. Salem is 35 miles northwest of Louisville KY. and a short 20 miles west of the I-65 corridor, connecting Indianapolis to Louisville. The department provides fire protection, first responder, haz-mat operations and rescue services for their area, as well as run rescue and haz-mat calls for all of Washington County. Check http://cityofsalemin.com/departments/fire-2.html for the latest news about the department.
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