Ambulance service response times below expectations for Q3

Nov. 15—Decatur Fire & Rescue's EMS coordinator issued a $5,000 fine and proposed a five-point penalty for Decatur Morgan Hospital EMS ambulance services for failing to meet the city's required response times in the police jurisdiction between July and September.

The Ambulance Regulatory Board (ARB) will vote on the penalty assessed by Chris Phillips, Decatur Fire & Rescue medical services coordinator, at a Dec. 10 meeting.

The ambulance service responded to 19 of 24, or 79%, of its mid- to high-priority calls in the police jurisdiction within 13 minutes during this year's third quarter, failing to meet the required 90%. The police jurisdiction is a 1 1/2 -mile area outside the city limits where Decatur provides fire and police protection and enforces building codes.

During the same time frame, the ambulance service responded to 292 of 323, or 90%, of its mid- to high-priority calls in the city within nine minutes, exactly meeting the requirements of the ambulance ordinance.

The service responded to 316 of 327, or 97%, of lower priority calls in the city within nine minutes, with one of those calls "rolled" to an outside service. One hundred percent, or 14 of 14, lower priority calls in the police jurisdiction were responded to within 13 minutes.

"A lot of it has been a staffing issue for us," said Tyler Stinson, the Decatur Morgan Hospital ambulance service director, at Tuesday's ARB meeting. "That's not a local issue, that's a national issue.

"We took over the county on July 1, and we've been short in both of our operations since then. There's a light at the end of that tunnel. We had six employees finish paramedic school in August. ... We've had four or five more that have finished advanced EMT class this last month."

In October, Decatur Fire responded to 303 of 315, or 96%, of in-city "hot" calls — those with lights and sirens — within nine minutes, according to Phillips. One hundred percent, or 13 of 13, police jurisdiction hot calls were responded to within 13 minutes.

There were 1,316 total EMS calls in October, down from 1,330 in September and 1,536 in August.

"There were three calls that were rolled to outside agencies," Phillips said. "That would not be the county ambulance's calls, that would be like HEMSI, Athens, Cullman, etc."

Phillips said the penalty for Decatur Morgan EMS was issued Tuesday morning. The board upheld a similar penalty for the ambulance service for failing to meet the 13-minute response time in the police jurisdiction during the last quarter of 2022 and the second quarter of 2024, according to Assistant City Attorney Chip Alexander.

The penalties for the ambulance service are in a two-year rolling window. A service would face a possible loss of its operating license if penalized as much as 26 points within the two-year window.

If the ARB upholds the penalty, the ambulance service can appeal the decision to the City Council.

Decatur Morgan Hospital has been the city's sole ambulance provider since First Response Ambulance Service closed its Decatur operations in March 2022.

Decatur Fire Chief Tracy Thornton said despite October's rolled calls, the ambulance service didn't have to roll any calls during the previous three months.

"Decatur Morgan has been doing a great job," Thornton said. "We're proud to be partnered with them to try to provide EMS service for the city of Decatur. Their goal and Decatur Fire's goal is to provide the best patient care we can for the citizens, and we work for that every day."