ESO Releases 2025 EMS Index: Reveals Decrease in Opioid Overdose Calls and Data Informed By New Pre-Hospital Obstetric Emergency Guidelines

The eighth annual index adds metrics on obstetric emergencies, invasive airway confirmation, behavioral health emergencies in pediatric patients, prehospital whole blood surveillance and high utilization groups

/EIN News/ -- AUSTIN, Texas, May 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ESO’s 2025 ESO EMS Index, which analyzes data from more than 3,000 EMS agencies with 12.5 million 911 records in calendar year 2024, evaluated patient care and outcomes across seven key measures. The leading data services and software provider distributes the annual index to help agencies benchmark and compare performance against aggregate data in the U.S.

"These data points aren't just numbers—they represent real patients whose outcomes could be transformed through data-driven protocols and care practices," said Dr. Brent Myers M.D., MPH, chief medical officer at ESO. "That's why we've included five new metrics to paint a full picture of the current EMS landscape and spark innovation that could save lives, ensure balanced application of evidence-based measures, and maximize resources according to patient demands. When we measure patient encounters and treatments consistently and accurately, we understand precisely how to improve them."

Findings include:

• Calls for suspected opioid overdose continue to drop: EMS agencies responded to 136,300 calls for patients with suspected opioid overdoses, accounting for 1% of all EMS calls, a decrease from 2% in the 2024 ESO EMS Index. This is in line with the CDC’s findings showing a significant reduction in overdose-related deaths across the U.S.
• Maternal care findings: Among patients with postpartum hemorrhage, 20% of white patients received tranexamic acid (TXA) or oxytocin treatments compared with only 3% of Black patients and 8.5% of Hispanic patients. According to the CDC, the U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate among industrialized countries. In April 2025, the National Association of EMS Physicians released new EMS model guidelines and protocols designed to support the care of obstetric emergencies, including postpartum hemorrhage, in the prehospital setting.
• Airway safety gaps: 64% of invasive airway procedures in adult patients and 62% of pediatric patients included documentation confirming waveform capnography, according to the National EMS Quality Alliance (NEMSQA)—the gold standard for confirming invasive airway placement due to its accuracy, reliability and continuous monitoring capabilities. While this measure focuses on the discrete documentation of waveform ETCO2, it is understood that other methods of documenting the use of this important tool are being utilized; we look forward to enhancing this measure in future indices to ensure current practice is being most accurately captured.
• Pediatric behavioral health surge: The rise in pediatric behavioral health diagnoses is mirrored in 911 calls—about one in eight pediatric encounters (13%) involved behavioral health or substance use emergencies. Most EMS-transported children with behavioral health emergencies were discharged from the Emergency Department (ED), highlighting an opportunity to evaluate optimal alternative care settings.
• Whole blood adoption increasing: Whole blood has become the most commonly administered blood product in ground EMS. EMS professionals administering whole blood to critically ill and injured patients is practical, feasible and associated with a low risk of adverse events.
  

The 2025 EMS Index is the first index to use ESO’s longitudinal patient record ID—which makes it easier to track patients who frequently use EMS services. The new data revealed that 20% of patients (1.1 million) used EMS services twice or more in the calendar year, representing a significant opportunity to improve health outcomes by shifting nonemergent and chronic disease management to primary care settings.

Access the 2025 ESO EMS Index here. For more information on ESO, visit www.eso.com.

Methodology and Limitations
The dataset for the 2025 ESO EMS Index report is real-world data, compiled and aggregated from 12,527,211 911 records that occurred in calendar year 2024 across the United States. This index is retrospective and looks at aggregate data from 2024. There are no universal rules
designed around these measures. The purpose of the ESO EMS Index is to be informative and
directional. This document is intended to serve as a body of literature that adds to the discussion about EMS best practices and quality improvement efforts to enhance patient outcomes. It is not meant as a scientific study nor comprehensive in nature.

About ESO
ESO (ESO Solutions, Inc.) is dedicated to improving community health and safety through the power of data. Since its founding in 2004, the company continues to pioneer innovative, user-friendly software to meet the changing needs of today’s dispatch centers, EMS agencies, fire departments, hospitals, and state and federal offices. ESO currently serves thousands of customers across the globe with a broad software portfolio, including the state-of-the-art Logis IDS CAD solution, industry-leading ESO Electronic Health Record (EHR), the next-generation ePCR; ESO Health Data Exchange (HDE), the first-of-its-kind health care interoperability platform; ESO Fire RMS, the modern fire Record Management System; ESO Patient Registry (trauma, burn and stroke registry software); and ESO State Repository. ESO is headquartered in Austin, Texas. For more information, visit www.eso.com.

Media Contact:
For ESO,
Hope Sander
Red Fan Communications
eso@redfancommunications.com
737-280-8783