The contract between the city of Colorado Springs and American Medical Response (AMR) is expiring in 2025, according to a report on coloradosprings.gov. In anticipation of the contract ending, the Colorado Springs Fire Department (CSFD) and city administration are exploring a different service model for providing emergency ambulance service in Colorado Springs by standing up a CSFD-based Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Enterprise that would operate emergency ambulance transport.
The fire department and city leadership presented the proposal to city council at the council work session May 13. A first vote of the city council to establish an EMS Enterprise is anticipated to take place at a special meeting on June 10.
“Today, I joined Colorado Springs Fire Department Chief Randy Royal at the City Council Work Session to present a proposal for a new fire department-based enterprise to manage emergency medical transport service when the city’s current ambulance service contract with AMR expires in 2025,” said Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade in a Facebook post.
“A fire department-based enterprise would provide the best possible emergency medical service to our community with three main benefits: improved response times and service, a lower cost to users and more innovative care.
“Friends, this proposal has been well vetted by our award-winning Colorado Springs Fire Department, city finance, the city attorney’s office, residents, stakeholders and an independent audit.
“The time is right to place the responsibility of EMS transport in the hands of those who are most capable to manage risk and who are tasked to do so by city code: our fire department.
“Today was an important first step and we had a robust discussion with city council. City council is expected to vote on this proposal at a Special Council Session on June 10.”
Learn more about the proposal at https://coloradosprings.gov/EMSTransport.
About the proposal
Per City Code, the CSFD is responsible for emergency medical service and emergency ambulance transport in Colorado Springs. Currently, CSFD contracts with a private operator, American Medical Response (AMR), to provide this service.
The city’s contract with AMR is set to expire on April 1, 2025. In anticipation of the current contract ending, CSFD and city administration are doing their due diligence to explore the best service model for providing emergency ambulance services in Colorado Springs.
City administrators and CSFD leaders have been meeting with city councilmembers, local philanthropic groups, and community leaders to discuss this option and the impact it would have on the Colorado Springs community.
Through this exploratory process, city administration and CSFD have found significant positive benefits in the CSFD-based model.
FAQ
Why not renew with AMR?
In the city’s last contract discussion with AMR, they gave the city three options:
- The city renegotiated contract terms and reverted to a previous contract scope of work that loosens contract requirements, including allowing longer response times so they don’t incur fines and don’t have to put more ambulances on the streets to meet the needs of the community.
- The city gave them a subsidy of $3.8 million from the General Fund.
- If the city allowed them to exit the contract early.
The city administration and CSFD do not deem these conditions to be acceptable.
History of Ambulance Transport Services in the City
In 1979, the first Advance Life Support (ALS) provider came to El Paso County; they were known as A-1 Paramedics. A-1 Paramedics served the city alongside Mountain Valley Ambulance, also known as Professional Paramedics, a Basic Life Support (BLS) provider. About 10 years later, A-1 Paramedics bought Professional Paramedics. Around the same time, St. Francis Hospital began its own ambulance service. A-1 Paramedics went on to buy St. Francis Hospital’s ambulance service, which once again made A-1 Paramedics the sole provider for the city.
In 1993 A-1 Paramedics was bought out by American Medical Response (AMR) leaving AMR to be the main provider for the city. At the time, the City was part of the Emergency Service Agency (ESA), which was created by city of Colorado Springs and El Paso County leaders with an oversight board for ambulance services. During this time, the City and County were under the same contract with AMR.
In 2013, the city broke ties with the ESA and released a Request for Proposal (RFP) for ambulance services. At the time, AMR was the only one to bid, and the City signed a 5-year contract with them. In December 2017, the City released another RFP for ambulance transport services as its 5-year contract with AMR was set to end in 2018. Three providers responded to the RFP: AMR, Priority Ambulance, and Apex Paramedics. Priority Ambulance’s bid was chosen, but negotiations with the company were unsuccessful. At that time, the City extended its contract with AMR and had 1 year to solicit new bids for ambulance services.
In 2019, the city once again released an RFP. This was the first time CSFD decided to go through the RFP process for a fire-based ambulance transport model. The technical committee reviewing the RFPs ultimately chose CSFD’s proposal; however, Issue 300 (which requires Enterprises to be fully separated financially from the General Fund) was not taken into consideration in the department’s proposal at that time, making it ineligible. The city then chose Falck Rocky Mountain as the top proposal. During negotiations, the City and Falck mutually decided to refrain from moving forward. The City was left to go with their second choice, AMR, and eventually renewed the contract for another 5 years which is set to end in April of 2025.
Why is this important?
The reliability of ambulance transport and fire response under one umbrella of control will provide the best possible service delivery to our community in their greatest time of need.
With a patient-focused public safety approach the CSFD recognizes that poor teamwork can result in poor patient outcomes. But strong local control over a single system of providers, all operating under clearly defined expectations and with one mission, vision, and code of conduct will enhance consistency and improve patient care.
The fire department is proposing to provide emergency medical services enterprise to:
Improve emergency medical service delivery in Colorado Springs.
- Improved response times.
- Increased resources dedicated strictly to 911 response.
- Transparent information and dashboarding to the community.
- Improved retention by providing better wages, benefits, and improved working conditions for EMS staff.
Reduce costs to the community when ambulance transport is needed.
- Utilizing a conservative and sustainable business model and financial projections.
- Central oversight and management of the entire emergency response to a 911 call creates efficiencies in the overall system.
- Dynamic deployment and civilian staffing create cost and system efficiency.
Enhance innovative programs and services.
- Ability to provide additional tiered response services to the community, which allows for the proper level of care to those experiencing minor injuries, mental health issues, and homelessness through programs such as:
- Community Medical Unit (CMED)
- Homeless Outreach Program (HOP)
- Community Response Teams (CRT)
- Alternative Response Teams (ART)
- Transitional Assistance Program (TAP)
- Super Utilizer Program
- Nurse Navigation
- The CMED program has shown its ability to reduce risk to the community by allowing for a non-emergent response to calls that are less likely to progress to a more serious condition. This helps ensure 911 emergency resources are available to respond to calls in order to protect loss of life and property.
