Verification Criteria


In order to obtain EMSTARS Verification, an ePCR Software Vendor must be NEMSIS Certified, have an EMSTARS Configuration, a designated test site, and a validated extract.

Each major release of an ePCR software must adhere to the same verification process as the initial verification of the ePCR software.

NEMSIS CERTIFICATION: The software must be certified as NEMSIS compliant at either the Silver or Gold level.

EMSTARS CONFIGURATION: The software must be configured**1 with data elements, field values, and validation rules specified in the Florida EMS Data Dictionary**2 and utilize the EMSTARS XML Schema**3 to produce a file extract that meets the EMSTARS validation criteria.

Any discrepancies between the Florida EMS Data Dictionary and the EMSTARS XML Schema, the EMSTARS XML Schema will be considered correct.

TEST SITE: The software vendor must install or upgrade one of their client EMS providers with their NEMSIS compliant software; this will serve as the vendors test site for extract verification

FILE EXTRACT VALIDATION:

  1. Complete an sFTP Account Request Form - All data must be submitted via the sFTP site for testing purposes.
  2. Send a test demographic XML file to test against the XSD.
  3. Send a test events XML file with no personally identifiable information with 5 to 10 records to test against the XSD.
  4. Send a test demographic XML file to test against Content Validation Rules.
  5. Send a test events XML file with no personally identifiable information with 5 to 10 records to test against the content validation rules.
  6. The final step is to send an XML file with a 100 "live" patient care reports representing various call types and dispositions.
    1. These event records must have been collected by agency personnel using the actual software version for which you are seeking verification.
    2. Sending backup records or "test data" will not be sufficient.
    3. This process will need to be repeated until the file extract validates 100% according to Florida's validations rules (40kb, .xls).

Juan Esparza, the EMSTARS Business Analyst, is the single point of contact for all startup related issues for both software vendors and EMS providers. Please route all questions, concerns, problems, or suggestions through Juan.


**1 These configuration and mapping requirements are the responsibility of the vendor, not of the EMS provider agency.
**2 The Florida Data Dicitionary contains additional field values and validation rules not present in the NEMSIS Data Dictionary.
**3 The EMSTARS XSD differs from the NEMSIS XSD, so review prior to testing.