Case study

Data analysis in a community paramedicine programme

Tempe, Arizona

The short version

Using incident data to find likely repeat EMS clients before the next call. Described by the U.S. Fire Administration; no measured outcome is published.

Type: Described by the U.S. Fire Administration — no measured outcome is published in the source
Last reviewed: September 4, 2026

The problem

A small number of residents account for a large share of EMS calls, and a department usually only learns who they are by going to them repeatedly. By then the pattern is months old.

What the USFA says was done

The U.S. Fire Administration describes it this way: the Tempe Fire Medical Rescue Department "has added innovative data analysis techniques to its paramedicine program to quickly identify likely repeat clients, monitor the program patient's well-being, and conclusively demonstrate the program's ability to reduce future EMS calls."

That is the whole of the published account. It appears on the USFA's Community Risk Reduction page as an example under Engineering.

What is not published is any figure. The USFA says the department can demonstrate a reduction in future EMS calls, but states no number, and no independent evaluation of the programme was found.

The USFA links to a programme overview handout. It is a scanned document whose text could not be extracted, so it has not been read and is not cited here. The only other detailed account located is a vendor case study, which is not an independent source.

Example department application

What to take from it, and what not to

This is on the shelf because the approach is worth knowing about, not because the result is established.

The idea is sound and transferable: your own EMS records already identify likely repeat callers, and identifying them early is the whole opportunity in community paramedicine.
Do not quote a number from this. There isn't one.
If you build something like it, publish what happened. The reason this entry is thin is that almost nobody does.

Sources

Official resourceU.S. Fire Administration

Community Risk Reduction

The USFA's CRR page, where the Tempe programme is described under Engineering, alongside short accounts of programmes in Worcester MA, Gwinnett County GA, Wilmington NC, Minnesota, Jackson Hole WY, Pocatello ID, South Carolina, Columbia-Richland SC and Chelan County WA.

Why it matters

The only authoritative published account of the Tempe programme, and a good source of other departments' work besides.

How these sources are labeled

Official resource: A government or standards body. Neutral, no commercial interest.

Nothing here is paid placement. Links are chosen because they are the clearest explanation we could find, and labeled so you know who wrote them.