EDITORIAL: Put out the fire
Members of the Las Vegas City Council have to know where the medical transport dispute between the Fire Department and ambulance company American Medical Response is headed. So why aren’t they stepping up to stop an expansion of government service, at the expense of private-sector jobs, that city taxpayers can’t afford?
The city is moving into its fourth month under a new emergency response model, one that relegates AMR to stand-by status despite franchise payments to the government that total nearly $400,000 per year. Effective March 1, Fire Chief Willie McDonald ended the city’s dual-response system, under which Fire Department paramedics and an AMR ambulance immediately were dispatched to calls for medical assistance. Now the Fire Department alone responds to all calls for help — even when an AMR ambulance is closer — then summons AMR only if the department can’t handle or doesn’t want to transport the patient to a hospital.
Where AMR used to handle the majority of patient transports — sustained solely by cash, Medicare, Medicaid or insurance reimbursements, not tax dollars — the city is fast approaching a 50-50 split, with a goal of taking 75 percent of transports by September 2015. The city wants the transport revenue to shore up its general fund. As reported Monday by the Review-Journal’s Jane Ann Morrison, officials believe they’ll collect an extra $3.5 million next fiscal year. But the city’s gain is AMR’s loss — in revenue and, ultimately, taxpaying jobs.
The council thus far has gone along with the direction of City Manager Betsy Fretwell and Mr. McDonald, even though the Fire Department can’t possibly transport 75 percent of patients without new personnel and additional ambulances. Because the city’s firefighters are paid significantly more than AMR paramedics — with taxpayer funded pensions, to boot — and because the city’s ambulances are significantly larger and more expensive, Las Vegas will never be able to recover the costs of a department expansion. Patient transports, now capably handled by a business, will become a new burden on city taxpayers who already have seen substantial fee increases.
“We’re not sure at what exact point we’ll need additional resources, and it’s premature to say where the money will come from,” Ms. Fretwell told Ms. Morrison. Where will it come from? Where else — from the taxpayers, of course.
“At some point the council has to weigh in on where do we go from here,” Ms. Fretwell said.
The Fire Department is blocking public access to dispatch information, which prevents scrutiny of response times and transport patterns from affluent areas and poor neighborhoods. Is the city cherry-picking transports to maximize revenues and chase AMR out of town? We won’t know without the records. Good policy results from transparency. Secrecy, on the other hand, leads to the abuse of taxpayers. Where’s the accountability?
This feud is poised to become the defining issue of the 2015 municipal elections. Should the city take over a service capably handled by the private sector? The council needs to go on the record right now. And the answer should be no.
