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HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 8823INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 8823 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council Date: February 6, 2007 OsE ", Page 1 of 3 a ► SUBJECT: Ambulance Authority The following information has been provided by MedStar in response to questions from Council Members during the October 17, 2006 Council Meeting. 1. Date when the response times for Priority One calls have been raised to minimum acceptable level. MedStar reports that is not possible to predict when response time compliance for all response priorities will meet the 90% standard for an entire month due to a number of factors that affect compliance. Through December 19, 2006, MedStar was at 87.6% compliance, having missed 90% compliance by 24 calls out of a total of 972 Priority 1 calls. Their average response time for Priority 1 calls is 6 minutes 14 seconds. Compliance percentage varies daily with many days meeting or exceeding 90 %. Daily performance is generally a function of schedule efficiency, i.e., the number of unit hours filled vs. scheduled as well as the call volume of the system. On particularly busy days, it is generally more difficult to achieve compliance. Beginning December 1, 2006, MedStar instituted a new posting plan, which seems to have improved compliance. Scheduling efficiency has been good; however, this may be the result of crews working extra open shifts to earn extra overtime for Christmas. MedStar reports that they should have a better barometer of the new posting plan by the end of January 2007. Staff will follow -up with MedStar to review compliance now that the end of the month has passed. 2. Date when all staffing vacancies are resolved. Currently MedStar is short 13 paramedic positions and 12 EMT positions. If all personnel currently in training are successful, they will be short 4 paramedics and 7 EMTs. MedStar reports they have recently hired 7 paramedics and 7 EMTs and these new personnel were scheduled to begin the Academy on January 8, 2007. If all 14 successfully complete the 3-4 month training period required for a primary paramedic, MedStar will be fully staffed. 3. Provide status of mutual aid agreements with outlying areas. MedStar has stated that they will again actively seek agreements with adjoining cities. The last time they did this was in 2001. MedStar currently has mutual aid agreements with Eagle Mountain Fire Department and the City of Roanoke. Previous efforts to enter into mutual aid agreements with neighboring jurisdictions have been unsuccessful. They are hopeful that the neighboring jurisdictions will be more willing to enter into mutual aid agreements since MedStar no longer contracts with a private for - profit provider. However, the City of Euless recently requested that MedStar not ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 8823 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council Date: February 6, 2007 Page 2 of 3 SUBJECT: Ambulance Authority request mutual aid of them but indicated that they might be willing to consider an agreement in the future. 4. Plans to alleviate citizen perception that there is confusion as to which municipality has responsibility to respond to emergency calls. MedStar plans to address public perception issues with educational efforts and attendance at neighborhood association meetings and town hall meetings. 5. List of cities which are not participating in the subsidy. Include what effect do the non- participating jurisdictions have on the overall user fees. Blue Mound, Haltom City, River Oaks, Saginaw, Edgecliff Village, Westworth Village, and White Settlement do not provide a subsidy. The rates in the cities which do not provide a subsidy are higher than in those cities that provide a subsidy. MedStar is unsure whether there is any impact on those cities providing a subsidy by those that do not The higher rates in the non - subsidized cities are more difficult to collect, but the non - subsidized cities generate few transports so the impact is negligible. 6. Have discussions been held with the County? MedStar has met with County officials, primarily County Administrator G.K. Maneius, three or four times over the past 15 years to discuss services to portions of the County, but these meetings have never led to any agreement. Most of the unincorporated areas of the County are served by volunteer services or with mutual aid agreements with cities. 7. Explore if costs can be lowered for non - emergency situations. The membership program was created to lower non - emergency charges. Non - emergency rates are approximately two - thirds the cost of emergency rates. The cost of producing the unit hour is the same for emergency as non - emergency. Further, MedStar's deployment is based upon emergency demand. Non - emergency demand is covered by the emergency capacity. Only 7% of MedStar's transports are non - emergency. 8. Amount the city is willing to appropriate out of the General Fund to prevent ambulance service fees from becoming outrageously expensive. This is a budget item that should be discussed and considered during the 2007 -2008 budget process. ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 8823 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council Date: February 6, 2007 ex Page 3 of 3 SUBJECT: Ambulance Authority ra"a 9. Ensure ambulance service information is available for citizens at all public and neighborhood meetings and place information about ambulance service on the city's website. MedStar has stated that they would be happy to provide information for distribution at all public and neighborhood meetings and for inclusion on the city's website. If you have any further questions regarding this issue, please contact Chief Rudy Jackson at 817- 392 -6805. &"_" �_, &JA� Charles R. Boswell City Manager ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS