Councilman Questions EMSA Response Time Requirements
Dec. 19--An Emergency Medical Services Authority trustee who has been a leading critic of EMSA's spending practices also has called into question whether the ambulance service manager and its contractor are meeting response time requirements.
But other EMSA officials and other trustees contend the requirements are strict, fair and being reasonably met.
Ward 2 Oklahoma City Councilman Ed Shadid, one of two city council members on the board of trustees, expressed concern at the board meeting last week that EMSA and its contractor for paramedics, Paramedics Plus, can too easily bend the rules to make sure they meet their statutory and contractual obligations.
Tulsa and Oklahoma City ordinances and EMSA's contract with Paramedics Plus state that ambulances must respond to 90 percent of calls in the EMSA service area within nine minutes. EMSA records show they've met that standard every month for the past year, but only because some calls are excluded from the numbers because of high call volume, weather and other reasons.
"What's been presented to the public is that there's this 90 percent compliance," Shadid said. "Well it's 90 percent if you exclude calls."
Exclusion policy
Exclusions because of high call volume are allowed when the number of calls in a given hour exceeds the 90th percentile of calls in that hour over the past year. Exclusions are given because of weather when there's measurable precipitation in the area of the call.
The weather-related exclusion guidelines were established in 1998 after consulting weather experts and were approved by the board, EMSA President and CEO Steve Williamson said. Oklahoma City, Tulsa and other participating cities have given their explicit and tacit approval over the last 13 years despite city code and the contract between EMSA and Paramedics Plus calling for a stricter standard.
"The board approved every word of this," Williamson said.
Tulsa and Oklahoma City ordinances regarding ambulance service are almost identical. Both, along with EMSA's contract with the paramedic service, call for weather exclusions only because of "unusually severe weather."
Weather exclusions make up less than 10 percent of the total exceptions granted. But on nearly one in 10 emergency calls in both the Oklahoma City and Tulsa areas in the last year, paramedics were either late or the response time wasn't counted because of an exclusion, EMSA records show.
Shadid said the board should study if the measurable precipitation standard needs to be tightened. Other trustees, including Ward 1 Oklahoma City Councilman and former city Fire Chief Gary Marrs, noted that even a little bit of rainfall makes life tough on large, heavy emergency vehicles like ambulances and fire trucks, so the standard is suitable.
Calls increase
The majority of the exclusions come during times of high call volume, which have increased in frequency as baby boomers age, officials said. The way the exclusions work changed in 2007 to reflect the higher call volume because the old standard of 14 calls per hour is now exceeded routinely.
"We didn't want to give too many exclusions just because volume is growing at a higher rate," Williamson told the board last week.
The trust can change the requirements as soon as next year, when they will publish a request for proposals to Paramedics Plus and other paramedic services who want to bid on the next EMSA contract.
EMSA is a public trust that manages the ambulance service for Oklahoma City, Tulsa and many of their suburbs. It's subsidized by the TotalCare utility fee, which is voluntary in the Western Division dominated by Oklahoma City.
Contributing: Tulsa World Enterprise Editor Ziva Branstetter
Copyright 2011 - The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City
