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​Regional Cooperative Care Program, JPA



About us...
The delivery of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in the East and South portions of San Diego County is enhanced through a collaborative effort known as the Regional Cooperative Care Partnership JPA or simply “RCCP.”  The member agencies involved in this process have established a process involving key stakeholders through functional consolidation of EMS oversight, training, medical direction and quality assurance and other EMS related management functions.

Member agencies of the RCCP in conjunction with American Medical Response are committed to improving the quality of patient care through standardization of high quality training and establishment of unified quality assurance and improvement programs. The efficiencies gained through consolidation into a single organizational structure for EMS management and oversight enhance the productivity of existing staff that have a number of other non-EMS related responsibilities. Under the direction of our medical director, common policies related to patient care are being adopted by all members of the cooperative. This program also has the strong potential to reduce EMS program related liability borne by member agencies.

Three key patient care elements of this partnership are Quality Assurance/Improvement, Medical Direction, and Training. Quality assurance/ improvement is the process of systematically examining our EMS delivery systems to ensure the highest possible level of service is provided to all of our citizens. This process involves real time monitoring of responses, retrospective analysis of documentation and identification of training needs that will direct educational efforts.

Medical direction is provided by a physician who is experienced in emergency medicine and the San Diego County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system. Our medical director will oversee the entire system and recommend improvements to training or clinical practice as the program evolves. The role of the medical director is to provide a progressive clinical focus and to allow the RCCP to provide quality and innovative care.

Our training program will augment the training that the RCCP member agencies currently provide.  All of the personnel in the region are currently held to a high training standard. The role of the training program within the RCCP is to provide additional training related to EMS that will allow for a uniform and sophisticated clinical focus for all member agencies. The training division will be responsible for developing a standardized minimum training standard as well as establishing a regular field care audit schedule that will allow all members to review actual cases and learn from medical professionals regarded highly in their area of expertise.

The partner agencies of the RCCP are also committed to transparency with respect to information and decision making related to this program.

Governance

As with any multi-organizational effort, equitable governance is a key to success. The RCCP has attempted to keep the governance structure as simple as possible. The RCCP is joined together through a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) approved by each member agency’s elected body..

An Administrative Oversight Committee comprised of a Chief Office from each member agency has ultimate responsibility for the RCCP. The day-to-day operations are coordinated by a program manager that reports to the Administrative Oversight Committee.

Each agency shares in the funding for the RCCP based upon emergency medical incidents transports. The guiding idea of the cooperative effort is to provide high levels of service at a reasonable cost. The functions of the cooperative partnership are comparative to those that would need to be carried out by an individual member agency.  As a result of the issues of scope and scale, overhead costs are inevitably lower within the cooperative.
In conjunction with::
American Medical Response-San Diego
​Heartland-El Cajon Fire Department
Heartland-La Mesa Fire Department
Heartland-Lemon Grove Fire Department
National City Fire Department
San Miguel Fire & Rescue
Mission Statement
The Mission of the Regional Cooperative Care Partnership is to improve patient care through integrated and effective quality management and the support of emergency medical services programs.


RCCP Goals
  • Provide timely and appropriate care to all patients
  • Create the understanding that the patient’s care only begins with on scene care having long lasting effects
  • Reduce workload impact on member agency staff
  • More efficient use of funds
  • Reduce individual member agency liability
  • Provide common Medical Direction
  • Allow for supervised medical trials and studies
  • Create standardized training program.
  • Reduce on scene issues of patient control
  • Foster scene management and support the Incident Command System


Partnership Advantages

The Regional Cooperative Care Partnership provides these advantages to local government agencies:
  • Provides the advantages of scope and scale while allowing for the maintaining of local programs.
  • Removes redundancy in necessary program overhead and provides for reduced costs
  • Provides consistent and assertive Medical Direction and Quality Assurance.  This results in higher service levels and reduced liability.
  • Provides large scale to gain purchasing advantages in capital equipment and medical supplies.
  • Provides a uniform clinical practice review completely separated from organizational discipline and rank structures.
  • Provides compliance with Federal, State and local government statutes regarding the establishment and maintenance of a Quality Assurance/ Quality Improvement program.
  • Provides the agencies with ultimate flexibility in deciding methods of funding.  Each agency can utilize any funding authority it chooses to – or utilize specific rate adjustments to user fees to pay for program costs.
  • Provides a structure to assist partner agencies in evaluation of candidates for positions. Additionally, the RCCP provides a system by which new employees can be mentored, evaluated and, when necessary, remediate to ensure their success and meet each agency’s needs.
  • Provides uniform and consistent training for all partner agency personnel. This training is based upon input from the Medical Director, Quality Improvement Specialist and Program manager as well as members of the prehospital medical community.
  • Provides, through the Program Manager, involvement in the prehospital system maintenance and design committee process on local and state levels.
  • Provides a mechanism for uniform Advanced Life Support related policies to be drafted, evaluated and implemented across the region.