The Delaware County Board of Supervisors discussed the impact, costs and potential future expansion of the countywide ambulance service Wednesday, March 26, following an in-depth update from county Emergency Services Department officials.
Margaret Wilson, deputy director/EMS coordinator, and Stephen Hood, director/fire coordinator, presented the report. Also present were William Beevers, operations manager, and William McGarrity, regional director, of American Medical Response, which contracts with the county for ambulance service.
“We are in the last year of the contract,” Hood said. The purpose of the report to the supervisors was to give them an overview of how it has been implemented and how it has helped local volunteer and paid ambulance services.
The contract that was approved in October 2022 runs from Dec. 1, 2022 through Nov. 30, 2025. The first year of the contract, AMR received $1.9 million the first year, $1.995 million the second year and will earn an additional 5% this year, according to Daily Star archives. The county used $1.5 million from the American Rescue Plan Act monies it received to get the service off the ground.
According to the report, the backup county ambulance service began in December 2022 after supervisors approved a $1.9 million contract with AMR. In 2023, AMR responded to 1,380 of the total 3,515 calls throughout the county. Last year, AMR responded to 2,293 of the 7,647 calls in the county. During that time, the three vehicles had driven 148,714 miles.
The BLS ambulance base rate is $1,500 per call, however Medicaid reimburses only $250 of that amount. The company billed $1,302,103 and collected $606,582 in 2023, for an average of $483 collected per call. In 2024, the company billed customers $1,231,973 and collected 779,233. The county is reimbursed what is collected and pays the difference for the service.
Wilson said the response time to calls average 14 minutes, which is far less than the 50-minute response time to calls before the county contracted with AMR to provide the service. AMR has an ambulance and fly car stationed at its Hamden location and an ambulance stationed at its Pindars Corners location ready to respond to calls when the local volunteer and paid providers cannot. The ambulances are staffed by basic life support emergency medical technicians, while the fly car is staffed by advanced life support EMTs.
County Attorney Amy Merklen asked how many calls were there in Davenport and Delhi, and wondered if that skewed the average response time. According to the report, AMR responded to Davenport 449 times in the past two years, and to Delhi and Hamden 1,099 times. Meredith Town Supervisor James Ellis asked how many of the calls were to SUNY Delhi, while Delhi Town Supervisor Maya Boukai asked how many of the calls were to the Delhi Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. Wilson said she would find out and let them know.
Paid providers in the county are Hancock, Sidney, which also covers the town of Masonville, Headwaters EMS, which covers the towns of Harpersfield, Kortright and Stamford, and Margaretville Hospital, which covers Middletown and parts of Andes and Roxbury.
Andes Town Supervisor Wayland “Bud” Gladstone said he and Middletown Town Supervisor Glen Faulkner met with the Westchester Medical Center’s CEO to discuss the Margaretville Hospital and ambulance service. He asked if a third county ambulance would be needed to cover that slack. Hood and Wilson both indicated that it would.
Hamden Town Supervisor Wayne Marshfield asked how much a third ambulance would cost. McGarrity answered about $500,000 more.
It will be up to the Public Safety Committee to decide if the county should add a third ambulance, if it should extend AMR’s contract or if it should solicit bids from different companies for a new contract.