By Bayne Hughes
The Decatur Daily
DECATUR, Ala. — Decatur Morgan Hospital’s ambulance service now must decide whether to appeal another $5,000 fine and five-point penalty for failure to meet the city’s response-time requirements in the police jurisdiction.
The city’s Ambulance Regulatory Board voted during its monthly meeting Tuesday to uphold the fine and penalty for the failure in the third quarter to meet the city’s requirements.
The ambulance service responded to 19 of 24, or 79%, of its emergency calls in the police jurisdiction within 13 minutes during May, June, July and August.
The city requires an ambulance service during a quarter to make at least 90% of its calls in the PJ within 13 minutes and 90% in the city within 9 minutes. The police jurisdiction is a 1 1/2-mile area outside the city limits where Decatur provides fire and police protection and enforces building codes.
Lt. Chris Jones, Decatur Fire & Rescue emergency services coordinator, assessed the penalties in October.
Assistant City Attorney Chip Alexander told the board that city ordinance gives Jones “no discretion” on penalties and fines, so his assessments are automatic.
Alexander said the ARB is the first place for a penalties review, and it can uphold or overturn his assessments. The hospital can then appeal penalties to the City Council, he said.
Carrie Wynn, Decatur Morgan Hospital service line director of Emergency Services, said after the meeting that she doesn’t think the hospital will appeal the penalties to the City Council, but a final decision hasn’t been made.
Wynn attributed the ambulance service’s third-quarter problems in the PJ to the adjustment period caused by its summer takeover of Morgan County’s emergency services.
Decatur Morgan Hospital’s ambulance service is just over 2 years old. After starting a full service in 2022, it became Decatur’s sole provider in March 2023. The hospital outbid Lifeguard to win the contract to become Morgan County’s sole ambulance service provider in July.
“We just knew taking on the county that there would be a (transitional) period to get the staffing to run both,” Wynn said. “We accounted for that because we knew it would be a little bit of a struggle.”
Tyler Stinson, DMH ambulance service director, said they had to make adjustments in how Morgan County 911 dispatches calls in the city and county. Instead of separately operating the city and county services, they began about three weeks ago covering the areas as one service.
“All of about trucks are dispatched by closest unit,” Stinson said.
Stinson said they believe this is why average response times, which were 90% in the city and 92% in the PJ for November, are improving. DMH had 320 emergency calls in the city and reached 287 on time. It had 26 calls in the police jurisdiction, with only two calls outside of 13 minutes.
“We had trucks in Priceville that are closer to PJ calls on South Bethel Road, but they were sending a Decatur truck driving passed our own trucks to respond to a call,” he said.
Wynn said the positive thing is they haven’t had complaints even with the struggle of meeting the response time requirements in the police jurisdiction.
“We have not had patient complaints, clinical care concerns or clinical issues that are reflective from not meeting those times,” Wynn said. “It’s just been a time metric that was difficult to meet.
“We continue to have a good relationship with Decatur Fire & Rescue. If there were any complaints or clerical concerns, I would be a lot more stressed. We knew operationally we could have some kinks, and I think we’ve worked through them,” she continued.
Stinson said stopping the repeated penalties now depends on hiring, which he believes is improving. The service is up to 125 full-time paramedic or emergency medical technicians, with an average of 13 ambulances running daily and seven at night.
“Staffing is looking better. Now that may change tomorrow, but there is light at the end of that tunnel on staffing,” Stinson said.
Fire Chief Tracy Thornton, chairman of the ARB, said Decatur Morgan Hospital’s response times are improving in the PJ, “and that’s what we want to see. It’s is tough to fine them, especially when they’re doing a good job. Their people care, and they want to do a good job. Their supervisors are working hard to make this all work.”
City ordinance calls for an assessment of penalty points on areas that include response times in the city and PJ, adequate staffing and vehicle quality and maintenance. An ambulance service could lose its license to operate in the city if it receives 26 points or more during a 2-year period.
Jones reminded the board that this is the second time this year and the third time in two years for the hospital’s ambulance service to be penalized. The ambulance service’s 2-year point total is up to 15, although he said the five points from Jan. 28, 2023, will roll off in January.
The city penalized the ambulance service $5,000 and five points for failure to meet response time requirements in the police jurisdiction during the first quarter of 2024.
The hospital appealed the fine to the City Council but did not appeal the points penalty. In August, the council rejected the appeal.
Alexander is working on possible changes to the ambulance ordinance, but he said Tuesday that recent additional workload in the Legal Department has delayed completing these changes.
Thornton said he would like to see some ordinance updates, especially on response time requirements in the police jurisdiction.
“We would have to sit down as a group and look at this issue,” Thornton said. “It seems like they’re doing a good job in the city but they’re struggling in the PJ. It seems like it has to do with multiple calls in one place or calls to places that are hard to get to quickly.”
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