By Ginger Shepherd
Journal Record (Oklahoma City, OK)
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All Rights Reserved
TULSA, Okla. — Recent winter weather put record-breaking demands on the Emergency Medical Services Authority. But a flexible system design keeps EMSA and its contracting partner — Paramedic Plus LLC — from feeling budget pinches caused by overtime and increased staffing. When the Tulsa area is hit with winter weather, EMSA sees an increase in the number of calls and transports.
EMSA Community Relations Director Tina Wells said January’s average number of calls is 205 with 147 transports in a 24-hour period in Tulsa. Oklahoma City’s average number is 197 calls with 144 transports. With snow or ice on the ground, the number grows.
She said EMSA set records with 193 transports on Jan. 16 and 203 transports on Jan. 17 in Tulsa. Oklahoma City also saw record highs on the same days with 271 calls and 189 transports on Jan. 16. Most ofthe state was covered in ice and snow that weekend. On Jan. 31, when Tulsa received snow, EMSA experienced a 30-percent increase in calls and saw 15-percent growth in the number of transports, she said.
“The key to meeting demand when there are unknowns is flexibility,” Wells said. “Throughout the last weather event, we called in off-duty personnel to man additional ambulances.”
For most agencies that would affect the budget with overtime costs, but the ambulance service staff are not EMSA employees. The authority contracts with Paramedic Plus for paramedics, EMTs, dispatchers and support staff, she said. EMSA is responsible for capital expenditures.
“If demand dictates additional personnel be deployed and overtime shifts be worked, the contractor absorbs that cost,” Wells said.
Paramedic Plus doesn’t really see an affect on its budget either since it is paid by the transport, said Tom Wagner, Paramedic Plus’ chief operating officer. During winter weather events, he said, there is an increase in the number of transports and the cost for additional personnel is covered.
Wagner couldn’t give exact numbers since the pay period wasn’t over. Wells said the effect on EMSA wouldn’t be calculated until all claims were processed and payments or denials were received from insurance companies and Medicare or Medicaid. Though the increased hours for paramedics doesn’t significantly affect either entity’s bottom line, both EMSA and Paramedic Plus make sure there is flexibility to so paramedics can have some downtime and food, Wells and Wagner each said.
Much of the support staff and educators are trained and certified as paramedics or EMTs, able to fill in and allow others to rest, Wagner said.