By Eric Fleischauer
The Decatur Daily
DECATUR, Ala. — Almost two years after the Decatur City Council eliminated the monopoly in the city’s ambulance service, response times have dropped, but other problems have appeared.
For 14 years, Decatur Emergency Medical Service Inc. handled all emergency calls and almost all transports in Decatur and its police jurisdiction. The monopoly ended in 2012, when the City Council licensed Healthcare Investment Group Inc., operating as First Response, to compete.
Response times to emergency calls dropped almost immediately.
In May 2012, while DEMSI was the sole provider, average response time for Category 1 calls — the most serious — was 6 minutes, 36 seconds.
In May 2013, when both ambulance services were operating, average response time had been trimmed to 5 minutes, 44 seconds.
By December, that time was down to 5 minutes, 20 seconds.
For years, the city’s goal was for 90 percent of all emergency calls in the city limits to have a response time of 8 minutes or less, and 90 percent of all calls in the police jurisdiction to have a response time of 12 minutes or less. DEMSI alone never met the goals.
“There was actually debate about whether this could be done,” Morgan County 911 director Ryan Welty said.
The goal was met for the first time in July, when 90 percent of calls in the city limits had a response time of 7 minutes, 57 seconds or less. Ninety percent of calls in the police jurisdiction had a response time of 11 minutes, 56 seconds or less.
For emergency calls, Morgan County 911 dispatchers use a computer to locate all available ambulances. The closest is dispatched to the scene. In theory, this gives the companies an incentive to place ambulances in locations that are most likely to get calls.
If they lose money on emergency calls, the incentive may not be very strong. Recent views of the AVL system showed no ambulances from either company north of the river, despite severe traffic accidents that are common on Alabama 20.
DEMSI’s struggles to operate enough ambulances — and the limited ability the city has to correct the problem — became clear last week. Mechanical problems in some units left DEMSI with only two ambulances in service, less than the three required by the ordinance.
Will competitive forces put one ambulance service out of business, leading to the same monopoly that the city is trying to avoid?
The issue may be immediate. Both DEMSI and its owner have been hit by tax liens and collection efforts. Owner Roger Stanmore said this month he anticipates a merger with another company, “which would provide funds to satisfy the federal tax lien recently filed against the company.”
DEMSI has four ambulances, with a fifth about to return to service. First Response — which now has 10 ambulances in service — expects to have 14 ambulances in the next few weeks. Consequently, most emergency calls — about 75 percent, Welty estimated — are dispatched to First Response, which is more likely to have the closest ambulance.
Sullivan said he does not see Decatur returning to a monopoly.
“I don’t foresee a situation where there will be just one ambulance service for a lengthy period of time,” Sullivan said. “If something happened to DEMSI, I’m confident another ambulance service would come into the market, because it is a good market.”