Coproduction in Emergency Medical Services

Abstract

Coproduction arrangements are being used in a number of places and in a number of forms. Yet, little research exists on assessing the effectiveness of citizen involve ment in the production of public services, which is the focus of this paper. First, drawing upon organizational theory, a method for determining the effectiveness of coproductive activities is proposed. Then the framework is applied to a citizen volunteer emergency medical response (EMS) organization operating in a small rural community as part of a regional response system. The volunteer group is examined in its relationships to the overall EMS system of which it is part, to specific governmental agencies and private emergency response firms it works with and its own members. Variables considered include its contribution to the needs of the system, cost effectiveness, emergency response capacity, interorganizational compatibility, skill levels of participants, and their motivation for volunteering. The study finds that benefits generated by the citizen group exceed its costs and dis cusses how the group successfully integrated itself into a high-skill regional service delivery system and expanded the services it produces to meet other community needs.