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HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolution 973 A Resolution WHEREAS, the City of Fort Worth has participated in the funding of a study of the requirements and options for the establish- meat of a county-wide ambulance service system; and WHEREAS, the Commissioner' s Court of Tarrant County did co-sponsor and help coordinate this study to ensure that the needs and interests of all of Tarrant County' s residents, including the citizens of the City of Fort Worth, are addressed by the study; and WHEREAS, the study was directly supervised by a specially appointed Ambulance Service Study Committee made up of persons from throughout the County with a wide and appropriate range of expertise in the clinical, business, financial, organiza- tional and political matters which must be considered and dealt with' if the study recommendations are to prove prac- tical and effective; and WHEREAS, the Study Committee did direct the development of findings and recommendations and, after considering the advantages and disadvantages of optional system designs, did unani- mously approve a set of findings and recommendations, said set of findings and recommendations having been .published in two volumes, entitled "Tarrant County Pre-Hospital Emergency Medical Services, " Volume 1 (General Findings and Assessment) and Volume II (System Design and Implemen- tation) ; and WHEREAS, the City Council of Fort Worth has received said report and is undergoing evaluation of its provisions and its implications regarding ambulance services for the citizens of Fort Worth; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS: While neither accepting nor rejecting the specific details of the findings and recommendations contained in the report of the Ambulance Service Study Committee at the present time, the City Council does hereby endorse and approve the concept of a county-wide ambulance service system which would include at least the following - salient features: � 'pPPR��ED CIL CIS CCU � 14 1984 /t,{� �TACity Secre. c.' t. CUT of r0ZT WORTH 1 . Emergency ambulance service will be operated by the private sector and a periodic competitive bid process will be used to select the private operator, in order to ensure a full and fair opportunity to compete for any contract by all qualified bidders. 2. A central dispatch system with an advanced communications system and all ambulances will be owned by the public sector but operated by the private operator. 3 . The system will allow each city to determine whether or not it will subsidize the price of ambulance services for its citizens and to what extent. 4. A uniform ambulance ordinance will be adopted by all partici- pating jurisdictions in order to provide for uniform regulation throughout the system. 5 . Medical oversight will be provided by a board or entity directed by full-time practicing emergency physicians which will result in a system of uniform medical protocols to be applicable throughout the entire system. UALtLJ 6. The Tarrant County Hospital District 1d assume responsi- bility for payment of all emergency medical services for indi- gents in conformity with State constitutional requirements. 64000 61_ 7 . There be a senior citizens subscription program which will fix the price of the uninsured portions of ambulance bills and allow unlimited use of medically necessary emergency and/or non-emergency ambulance service. S . The Uniform Ambulance Ordinance will call for the establishment of a regulated sys#hem of Fire Department and volunteer-based first responders. The City Council further authorizes and empowers the City Manager to work with the County Commissioner' s Court and all interested jurisdictions throughout Tarrant County to develop an organizational and legal framework for implementation of such system and to cause to be drafted the instruments necessary to create such a framework and submit same to the City Council for its consideration. PASSED this /�"f� day of 1984. WN OF FORT Won=