Firefighters concerned over private ambulance

LACONIA — The idea of privatizing city ambulance services is under the microscope at City Hall as a potential way to save money.

Councilor Bruce Cheney, whom City Manager Scott Myers appointed to the committee reviewing proposals from three ambulance companies, said the present system in which the Laconia Fire Department provides these services is operating well.

“But I felt we had a fiduciary responsibility to see about costs,” Cheney said. “I agreed with pursuing this to make sure we are doing the best we can for taxpayers. Still, if a provider can't provide us the same level of service we are getting now, I'm not anxious to go with it.”

Some cities operate systems in which firefighters continue to respond to life-threatening emergencies, but private ambulance services transport patients to hospitals.

Myers said one of the things the committee will examine is whether expenses in the fire department's operating budget could be reduced through such an arrangement.

Most of the fire department's $4.4 million budget is connected to personnel costs for about 40 employees.

Last year, the fire department responded to 4,914 incidents, including 3,400 emergency medical service calls.

The examination of ambulance services comes after LRGHealthcare announced it would end a longstanding agreement to financially support ambulance services performed by the city fire department.

LRGH has been paying about $1 million a year, covering salaries and overtime for some of the firefighters staffing the ambulances. The hospital has been able to recover about $800,000 of that amount through bills to ambulance users or their health insurance providers.

Fire Chief Ken Erickson has said that improved billing practices should be able to boost revenue and that there would be no net additional costs for the city once LRGH ends its participation.

He said half of his firefighters have advanced certification as emergency medical technicians and half are trained paramedics.

“We did almost 400 critical patients calls last year,” he said. “We save hundreds of people every year with our ambulances. The quality we provide is second to none. We have three ambulances on the road, 24 hours a day, and every one has at least one paramedic on it.

“Everyone here can also fight a fire.”

He said discussions about privatizing ambulance services is being watched closely by local firefighters.

“It's extremely stressful for people in limbo,” he said.

Myers said the issue needs to be dealt with in a timely matter, as the new budget year starts on July 1, and Sept. 1 is listed on the request for proposals as the starting date for any potential ambulance contract.

The request for proposals states that the response time for a medical emergency call should be within six minutes on at least 75 percent of incidents.

It also discusses financial obligations.

“All compensation for services shall be billed by the vendor,” the request states. “The city offers no subsidy or monetary compensation for any provision of this agreement.”

The formal responses to the request for proposals were submitted by:

• BestCare Ambulance Services, Inc. of Gilford.

• Brewster Ambulance Service of Weymouth, Massachusetts.

• CarePlus Ambulance Services, Inc. of Merrimack.

The proposals themselves were not released publicly.

It will be up to the City Council to determine whether any of the proposals meet the city's needs and whether it makes sense to privatize the service. Public input will also be sought as the review process continues.

The committee investigating the issue is composed of Cheney, Myers, Police Chief Matt Canfield, city purchasing specialist Jon Gardner and Dr. Joshua Morrison of Lakes Region General Hospital.