By Christopher N. Osher
The Denver Post
DENVER — The contract for paramedic service in Denver is getting an overhaul, including putting a stop to a controversial way that response times have been measured, top aides to Mayor John Hickenlooper said Wednesday.
Response times will start being calculated from the moment a call seeking emergency service is answered by a dispatcher, said Katherine Archuleta, the mayor’s senior adviser on policy and initiatives.
Denver Health Medical Center officials previously said the Hickenlooper administration gave it the green light in 2004 to calculate those response rates leniently. They said that agreement allowed the clock to start ticking when an ambulance was freed up to drive toward the scene, not the moment a dispatcher got a call.
Paramedics protested
Paramedics have argued that the lenient calculation is inaccurate because it doesn’t account for delays that occur when all ambulances are tied up on other emergencies.
Archuleta announced that the more stringent way of calculating response times would be embodied in a new contract during a City Council briefing.
“As noted during the meeting today, Denver Health is working with the city on the annual operating agreement and will fully comply with the response time language that is placed in the operating agreement,” said Dee Martinez, a Denver Health spokeswoman.
Because the contract is coming up for renewal before Denver Auditor Dennis Gallagher’s office releases a comprehensive audit on paramedic service, the council members agreed to allow flexibility.
A provision will allow further amendments after the council gives approval.
National standards
Archuleta stressed that the Hickenlooper administration is ensuring that, at a minimum, paramedic service will adhere to National Fire Protection Association Standards, adopted by the council in March.
Gallagher’s office released an alert last month warning that paramedic service may not be in compliance with the NFPA, which requires response times to begin the moment a dispatcher answers an emergency call.
The NFPA requires 90 percent of all calls requiring advanced life support to occur within 9 minutes after a dispatcher answers an emergency call. Denver Health uses a different standard: 85 percent within 8 minutes and 59 seconds of ambulance dispatch.