Washington Ambulance Service Scrutinized

It took more than 10 minutes in 11 percent of the calls during a three-month period this fall, a City Council panel was told Friday.

The city's medical response system is like using concrete trucks to deliver pizza, Lt. Bill Jackman of the firefighters union told the panel.

But transporting of patients is only done by American Medical Response (AMR) ambulance crews, operating in a monopoly environment under a five-year contract with the city.

AMR, in turn, bills its patients for mileage and the type of medical care provided.

Now, two years into the contract between the city and AMR, a series of questions are surfacing from the firefighters union and citizens who have used the ambulance service.

The issues include:

--Response times. The contract requires AMR to respond within 10 minutes to 90 percent of the emergency calls, and within 20 minutes to 90 percent of the non-emergency calls. The City Council panel is attempting to determine if response times are too long.

--Services provided. The contract allows AMR to charge $ 480 for advance life support services, and $ 348 for simpler basic life support services. The city panel is questioning if too many patients are being charged for more-expensive advance life support, when only basic treatment is needed.

--Reimbursement of supplies. The city, using EMS levy money, re-supplies the ambulance company for any medical supplies, including narcotics, frequently at the emergency scene. The panel is asking if this procedure amounts to "gifting" of public resources to a private company. Other questions focus on inventory and control over the medical supplies and drugs.

--Mileage charges. The ambulance company currently charges the patient $ 16 per mile, up from $ 11 under the previous contract. If the patient is a city resident, they pay nothing for treatment provided by the Fire Department.

--Administration of the contract. The ambulance company is required to pay the city approximately $ 25,000 per month to "administer" the contract. Questions are being raised about where this money is going.

After the one-hour session, another was scheduled for next Friday at 9:30 a.m. at City Hall. City Council members Bob Apple, Al French and Mary Verner asked the Fire Department and AMR to provide more specific statistics and answer questions not addressed at Friday's session.

"I have concerns about this contract, specifically the response times," Verner said at the outset of the panel session.

Randy Strozyk, AMR regional vice president of operations, said it's financially impossible for the for-profit company to meet the 10-minute deadline in 100 percent of the emergency calls. "But we try to be at the 93 or 94 percent level."

RESPONSE TIMES: Ambulance calls in the city of Spokane, Aug. 1 through Oct. 31:

--1,326 emergency calls, including 148 (11 percent) beyond the 10-minute response limit.

--2,432 non-emergency calls, including 96 (4 percent) beyond the 20-minute response limit.

Source: Spokane Fire Department

-----

To see more of The Spokesman-Review, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to https://www.spokesmanreview.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com. LI, BUS,

News stories provided by third parties are not edited by "Site Publication" staff. For suggestions and comments, please click the Contact link at the bottom of this page.