HomeMy WebLinkAboutASA Recommendations
Ambulance Service Area (ASA) Committee
2577 NE Courtney Dr.
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 322-7410
MEMORANDUM
DATE: February 12, 2014
TO: Deschutes County Commissioners
FROM: Doug Kelly, EMS Chief, Redmond Fire & Rescue and ASA Committee Chair;
Tom Kuhn, Community Health Manager, Health Services and ASA Administrator.
RE: Ambulance Service Area Committee Recommendations to Commissioners
The purpose of this request is to propose that the Commissioners approve a recommendation
decided by the Ambulance Service Area (ASA) Committee that Non-Emergency Service Providers
not be permitted to provide mutual aid for 911 emergency calls. Along with this recommendation,
language changes will need to be made by the committee to the Ambulance Service Area (ASA)
Plan and Ordinance Chapter 8.30 to reflect this decision.
I. Background
In July 2013, a complaint was brought forward to the ASA Committee of a possible violation or
misinterpretation of Deschutes County Code (DCC) 8.30. It was discovered that The City of Bend
Fire Department had engaged in a Mutual Aid Agreement with Cascade Medical Transport of
Oregon (CMT) to provide emergency transports in Deschutes County. This was identified as a
conflict since DCC 8.30 explicitly states that “Effective May 14, 1997, no person shall provide
emergency ambulance services within Deschutes County unless such person is franchised in
accordance with DCC 8.30…The franchisee may subcontract non-emergency or inter-facility
ambulance transports as defined in the ASA Plan.” Following several meetings between the ASA
Committee, Bend Fire and CMT, the committee decided during the November 18, 2013 ASA
meeting by a six (6) to two (2) vote that a non-emergency service provider can not be mutual aid
for 911 emergency calls. In addition, the committee acknowledged that DCC 8.30 and the ASA
Plan needed language changes made as there were multiple discrepancies discovered during this
process which must be clarified.
II. Recommendation
The Deschutes County ASA Committee would like to recommend that the Deschutes County
Board of County Commissioners approve the following:
1. That the recommendation that “a non-emergency service provider can not be mutual aid for
911 emergency calls,” be approved, therefore voiding the Mutual Aid Agreement between Bend
Fire and CMT for emergency services and;
2. That the ASA Committee be permitted to make language changes to DCC 8.30 and the ASA
Plan to more strongly reflect the above recommendation, as well as clarify all other
discrepancies identified. These language changes would then be brought back to the BOCC
for final approval.
III. Justification
No County within the State of Oregon allows a non-franchised non-emergency provider
to mutual aid on 911 emergency medical services calls. The ASA Committee had
several conversations regarding the mutual aid contract and made a decision not to
allow mutual aid contracts between franchised emergency and non-franchised non-
emergency providers.
The mutual aid contract that was presented allowed a non-franchised non-emergency
medical provider to treat and transport emergency medical patients. The ASA
Committee determined that was not in the best interest of patient care.
Response times are not affected by mutual aid contracts because there is no
guarantee that the requested agency is available or clo se to the incident. Response
time standards in the ASA Plan are for 90% of the time; mutual aid requests are not
frequent enough to increase overall response times in most jurisdictions.
There are no cost savings associated with any mutual aid contracts within Central
Oregon. In all cases the transporting agency bills for services.