Politics & Government
Supes Approve Contract Extension For 911 Ambulance Provider For Alameda Co.
BREAKING: Paramedics Plus ambulances respond to 911 medical calls in most of Alameda County.
ALAMEDA COUNTY, CA — The Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted 3-1 Tuesday to approve a three-year contract extension for ambulance provider Paramedics Plus that reduces fines for delays in responding to emergencies by 90 percent. Rebecca Gebhart, the interim director of Alameda County Health Care Services Agency, told the board that Paramedics Plus, which is based in Tyler, Texas, will still feel "a financial impact" when it's slow in responding but she said it will now be "significantly less."
Gebhart said the new fine structure for Paramedics Plus in Alameda County will now be in line with the fine structures for ambulance providers in other jurisdictions. Gebhart said Paramedics Plus lost nearly $5 million in Alameda County for the contract year ending Oct. 31, 2016.
She told the board, "Ambulance system economics are under considerable strain, not only in Alameda County, but in many California counties and across America due to a marked decline in private and public reimbursements for services."
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Paramedics Plus serves the entire county except for Berkeley, Alameda, Piedmont and Albany, which have their own ambulance services provided by the local fire department. Paramedics Plus was originally awarded a five-year contract in November 2011 that expired in October 2016. Alameda County began a request for proposal process for a new contract but it was suspended pending a resolution of issues by the state Emergency Medical Services Authority, Gebhart said.
The new contract approved today will expire on June 1, 2020. Supervisor Keith Carson, who voted against the new contract, said he's concerned about the reduction in fines for response delays.
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He said, "We need to incentivize people to be on time to reduce the possibility of loss of life. I'm missing the incentivization."
Supervisor Scott Haggerty told Paramedics Plus chief operating officer Dale Feldhauser that the county's new contract for the ambulance provider "is more than generous" and that the county "has gone above and
beyond" to keep the company as its provider.
Haggerty said, "We're interested in you staying around."
By Bay City News
Photo via Renee Schiavone, Patch
