Okla. Ambulance Trust Talks Contract Renewal
Jan. 22--The Western Payne County Ambulance Trust Authority met Wednesday and heard reports from LifeNet ambulance personnel regarding the service's numbers and response times.
They also discussed plans to review a renewal contract with the service that would take effect May 1 and extend through May 1, 2021. Proposed changes include an unspecified updated subsidy for the service and updated average patient charges. The new contract would also include an automatic escalator primarily based on the consumer price index.
The trustees will discuss the specific provisions at their February meeting.
Kelly McCauley of LifeNet reported the ambulance service's crews responded to a total of 286 urban calls in November and 266 in December.
Approximately 75 percent of those calls were classified at the emergency level and less than one-fourth were classified as intermediate.
LifeNet met response time goals of 8:59 for emergency calls slightly more than 96 percent of the time and 12:59 for intermediate calls 98 percent of the time in December.
Rural response time goals are 15:59 for emergency calls and 20:59 for intermediate calls. Those goals were met approximately 92-94.5 percent of the time in December, an improvement over November's average of approximately 81-83 percent of the time. LifeNet responded to 71 rural calls in November and 68 in December.
Because reaching patients in rural areas quickly continues to be a challenge, LifeNet's program to train First Responders in rural areas is important, WPCATA chairwoman Elaine Ackerson said.
Twitter: @mcharlesNP
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