EMS Update From March 22 Workshop

The EMS update at the City Council workshop was very disappointing. The funding to date to establish the EMS was not presented in a clear and unambiguous manner with several important elements missing and so was incomplete.

There was a lot of focus on the services provided and how well the recipients appreciated the response. New math was used to show that ambulances arrive at an incident 89.9% of the time within 10 minutes. Notice how the "goal posts" were moved from the 90% standard within 9 minutes. Thus, the City meets the newly invented standard.

Using the 9 minute standard for ambulance arrival, the City meets that less than 80% of the time and that is worse than the Williamson County ambulance responses.

For all EMS calls, the National Fire Protection Association NFPA 1710 standard establishes a turnout time of one minute, and four minutes or less for the arrival of a unit with first responder or higher level capability at an emergency medical incident. This objective should be met 90% of the time.

If a fire department provides ALS services, the standard recommends arrival of an ALS company within an eight-minute response time to 90% of incidents. This standard requires that Georgetown EMS, with advanced life support(ALS) capability, respond within 8 minutes 90% of the time. Looks like there is room for improvement.

It was also admitted that both a "big red" fire truck and an ambulance are dispatched on every medical call. This will go on until it doesn't! So much for reducing the wear and tear on the "big red" fire trucks with the concomitant financial savings.

It was admitted that the startup costs so far, $1.4 Million, are double the initial estimates. Because of the lack of transparency in the numbers, it is unclear if all the startup costs are included. It is pretty clear that the cost of maintaining a full-time medical doctor on staff is not included. Estimated revenues of $2.2 Million for insurance reimbursement will cover the operational costs,$1.89 Million. However, with little transparency, it is unclear if the bond payments for the purchase of the ambulances is included. There was nothing to show the city general fund being reimbursed for the startup costs either.

The City has 15 full-time paramedics on staff with authorization for the Council to hire 4 more. So, the costs continue to escalate!

It should also be noted that a majority of the insurance reimbursement comes from MediCare. The taxpayers of Georgetown get to pay for the reimbursement through their medicare premiums! What a great deal!