Client
Sectors
Healthcare
Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
Public Health Policy & Planning
Workforce & System Infrastructure
Project Overview
Cambridge Consulting Group was contracted to perform a comprehensive statewide assessment of Vermont’s EMS system. The scope included cataloguing all EMS agencies; analyzing statewide EMS education, training capacity, and cost; evaluating system response reliability; assessing first-response fire‑department–based services; identifying statewide EMS service gaps; and reviewing the adequacy of inter-facility medical transportation and its impact on EMS services. The resulting work was assembled into a complete data‑collection and analysis report issued in May 2025.
Key Deliverables
- A full catalogue of EMS agencies across Vermont, with data on agency structure, coverage areas, and service models.
- Statewide EMS education and training analysis — including review of training capacity, instructor resources, certification pathways, continuing education, and cost assessment.
- System-wide EMS operations and performance analysis — evaluating response-time reliability, call distribution, dispatch and system-status management, and operational challenges across geographic and demographic variations.
- Assessment of first-response fire‑department agencies and their integration in the EMS system, with evaluation of strengths, limitations, and system impact.
- Review of interfacility transport (IFT) services — capacity, utilization, coordination, cost, and impact on overall EMS workload and hospital transfer delays.
- Gap‑analysis identifying geographic, operational, workforce, financial, data‑reporting, and service‑delivery deficiencies throughout Vermont’s EMS system.
Outcomes
- A publicly released statewide EMS system assessment report (2025) providing data-driven conclusions and recommendations for reform.
- Identification and documentation of critical systemic issues: coverage gaps, uneven agency sizes, volunteer workforce shortages, funding instability, inconsistent data reporting, limited IFT capacity, and training/education-system constraints.
- A baseline for Vermont policymakers, EMS stakeholders, and the EMS Advisory Committee to inform a future multi‑year statewide EMS improvement plan.
- Evidence to support legislative and funding discussions regarding EMS sustainability, workforce development, data infrastructure, and inter-facility transport services.