West OC Ambulance Review Leads To Funding Questions; City Believes County’s EMS Funding Formula Inadequate Joanne Shriner, Staff Writer OCEAN CITY – The Mayor and City Council questioned Worcester County’s reimbursement to the city this week for EMS services provided in the unincorporated area of West Ocean City. During Tuesday afternoon’s Mayor and City Council work session, City Manager David Recor explained one of the items listed as high priority on the 2014 Strategic Plan Policy Agenda is a review of West Ocean City (WOC) EMS service. According to the report, the Ocean City Fire Department (OCFD) medic unit typically responding to West Ocean City is staffed with three providers, at least two of which being advanced life support technicians and the third a basic level technician. This exceeds the minimum of all other Worcester EMS units by at least one paramedic. In 2013, the average time for a unit to arrive in West Ocean City from time of dispatch was six minutes and 24 seconds. “That is within two minutes of the same time we respond within the corporate limits of Ocean City,” Fire Chief Chris Larmore said. “That is a remarkable response time.” In 2013, the total EMS call volume for the West Ocean City area was 675 calls. This represents 15.4 percent of the total EMS calls for service by the department. The FY2013 budget for the Career Division was about $7.5 million. The Worcester County contribution for the EMS service for the same period was $1.181 million, representing 15.9 percent of the total budget. “The irony of that is 15 percent of our call volume is in WOC, and the county actually reimburses us 15 percent of our budget,” Larmore said. The estimated annual cost to place one additional medic unit in the West Ocean City area is estimated to be about an additional $1.5 million after initial startup costs. The estimated revenue lost to the Town of Ocean City by no longer responding to the West Ocean City as an initial response unit is estimated to be close to $395,000. “The reason being is our overall service in town was the primary expenses. We could not decrease costs by simply not going to West Ocean City,” Larmore said. “Off season our minimal staffing is three units. Those three units also handle the calls in West Ocean City. If we no longer went to West Ocean City, we still could not reduce below those three crews.” The report provided history of EMS services in West Ocean City. Initially, service was provided by the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Company (OCVFC), subsequently by Ocean City Emergency Services and today by the OCFD. Provisions made during times of anticipated delayed response such as Fourth of July, White Marlin Open as well as any extended closure of the Route 50 Bridge, OCFD staffed units have been temporarily placed at the fire house located on Keyser Point Road that is owned and operated by the OCVFC. More: bit.ly/1rjVZ9O
Posted on: Thu, 29 May 2014 12:52:57 +0000
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