What fire expects from private EMS

[streethealer535]

I am not sure what a fire/medic makes in Tempe now. But I would tend to belive that even thought the company is sending 94K to the fire dept its not the firefighter that is seeing all that money... that seems a little shady to me...

JJ

[Dustdevil]

Yeah, even including all benefits and overtime (which the contract states), those numbers are still significantly padded. They're charging PMT cost plus some.

It's an interesting concept. Most cities award such a contract in order to avoid spending money. Tempe seems to actually be trying to make money off the deal. It doesn't get much shadier than that. I have no respect for, or confidence in any management that would bend over for this deal.

[wbgraidermom]

not even our city medic are making that much in a year. What drug were they smoking when they wrote this cantract up? Like to have some. if they find anyone to take that it will be a miracle. They just screwed themselves over big time.

[Dustdevil]

if they find anyone to take that it will be a miracle.

Oh, PMT will take the contract. I don't think there is any question about that. But the really sad part is that there will also be EMTs stupid enough to work for them at $7 dollars an hour, even knowing what they are paying for the medics. Some people have no self-respect. And no options.

[NREMT-Basic]

Cliff notes:

6 ambulances, 2 ALS, 4 BLS. Units are dedicated to 911 work only.

Ambulance company takes care of and gets to keep all patient billing.

Fire department maintains scene/patient control at all times.

BLS ambulances=2 EMT-Bs supplied by the ambulance company stationed where ever the company wants to station them at.

The fun starts with the ALS units.

• Company supplies an EMT-B to drive the unit

[*]Fire department supplies either a civilian EMT-P or a fire fighter EMT-P

[*]Regardless of utilization, the ambulance company will reimburse the fire department for $84k/yr per civilian medic and $94k/yr per fire medic used. This includes pay, overtime, and benifits.

[*]Ambulance company will pay the fire department $400/month for room and board at the fire station for the ambulance and the EMT-B (I'd hate to be the EMT-.

Personally, I don't see why any fire department that wants to run EMS doesn't take it all the way. If you want to supply the medics, then supply your own damn transportation too. If they can find a company that is willing to take that contract, then so be it. It's a "free" market anyways.

Some of us dont have any choice. Our Fire based EMS was taken away from the department several years ago. Whereas we used to have ALS and BLS in each of the four stations, now we have one ALS rig split among the four stations. It was a decision of the fire protection district board, and not even put in front of the responders. One day we had ambulances, the next day they were being sold off. No we run non-transport BLS/BTLS trucks. Most municipal departments dont have a say in how they are run. They do what their board tells them to do.

[AZCEP]

Some of us dont have any choice. Our Fire based EMS was taken away from the department several years ago. Whereas we used to have ALS and BLS in each of the four stations, now we have one ALS rig split among the four stations. It was a decision of the fire protection district board, and not even put in front of the responders. One day we had ambulances, the next day they were being sold off. No we run non-transport BLS/BTLS trucks. Most municipal departments dont have a say in how they are run. They do what their board tells them to do.

To a point perhaps. The fire board responds to public scrutiny just like any other government body. If there was enough interest from the providers and the public to do something about it, the situation would not be approved. With the description you've provided, I would have to believe that there was a public meeting at some point to discuss this action. It may have been buried on the agenda, but it was there.

[JPINFV]

Some of us dont have any choice. Our Fire based EMS was taken away from the department several years ago. Whereas we used to have ALS and BLS in each of the four stations, now we have one ALS rig split among the four stations. It was a decision of the fire protection district board, and not even put in front of the responders. One day we had ambulances, the next day they were being sold off. No we run non-transport BLS/BTLS trucks. Most municipal departments dont have a say in how they are run. They do what their board tells them to do.

So? It wasn't a complaint about the street level providers any more than you would complain about a cashier at Gap not giving you a refund because s/he was following company policy. Somewhere in the leadership of that fire department, be it the service management or government oversight, got the bright idea of "let's contract out ambulance transport so we don't have to worry about ambulances, but force them to use our providers."

[a918emt]

Well, here is the real kicker - thought I'd let you all soak it in before the political stuff was thrown in The guy that now owns the ambo service taking over *used* to own the ambo service that has served the city for 15ish years. He sold it off. He has said he was going to take the sold service down and has the political ties to do it. And is..... piece by piece. Political and union ties - his partner was an ex union big wig and has been accused of but never convicted of for personal profit dealings. The New Times in the phx area has a lot of articles about it.....

Not into politics. Just wanna do my job. Politics is killing it tho. :violent1:

[Dustdevil]

Arizona sets itself up for politics like that. They over-regulate the crap out of every industry in the state. They have done the "certificate of need" thing for everything from ambulances to doughnut shops, resulting in people having to play back-door politics just to make a living.

[Doug]

My ADD kicked in...couldn't get through it all...36 pages sorry...

Here the city had a zero bid contract with a private service to provide ambulance transport, that is the private service covered 911 at no cost to city just what they could bill pt's for. There have been whispers however of makeing the private company PAY for the privalige of coverage...at first it was bill percentage, then later a flat yearly fee...mind you this company owns the property it's on (property tax) and excise taxes for each of the 30+ company vehicles...this was a year ago...and as i said only whispers...are there any other cities out there that run something like this?