Format: E-Guide | Free to AAA Members

This document is a comprehensive practical and legal guide for EMS agencies evaluating body-worn camera (BWC) programs, emphasizing that BWC implementation is far more than a technology decision, it is fundamentally a patient privacy, information governance, and risk management initiative. It outlines how EMS agencies must thoughtfully balance potential benefits, such as improved safety, transparency, quality improvement, and documentation of unusual encounters, against substantial legal and operational risks involving HIPAA, state privacy and wiretap laws, medical record status, employment and labor concerns, litigation exposure, public records disclosure, vendor data security, and records retention obligations. This is not a toolkit, rather it highlights the critical considerations EMS leaders need to consider when contemplating BWC program at their agency.