Central EMS will become Augusta’s EMS provider a little sooner than expected.
At a Thursday work session, officials with Central and its parent company Priority EMS agreed the company will be in place by May 1, ahead of the state’s May 8 deadline, and will spend time overlapping with current provider Gold Cross.
Central EMS wants to build the best ambulance service Augusta can afford, and it starts with the data, Priority CEO Bryan Gibson said.
“I want to build the best EMS system I can, within the means the community has to offer,” he said.
EMS company officials met a first time Thursday with the local subcommittee created Tuesday to help determine how the service will look. Central recently was awarded the state license to run all Augusta EMS calls. Its bid for the service included no estimated local price tag, only Central President Gary Coker’s assertion that stockholders require a 10% profit margin.
It’s unusual for Central to be announcing its profit margin.
“That’s not normally how we do it,” Gibson said. “Usually just a county puts it out for bids and says, ‘We want x y and z.’ The reason we proposed this is because of the transparency that we thought that we needed.”
To that end, Central is prepared to “set up a lockbox” in which city officials can view its billing and collections – as well as any deficit, he said.
Sharing resources
EMS will work closely with Augusta Fire Department and E-911. Gibson said it’s preferable for 911 to dispatch the ambulances. Currently 911 rolls the calls over to Gold Cross’ dispatch center.
“That takes time on a response time, when a person may be in dire need,” Coker said.
Using Augusta 911 and other city assets – such as housing the ambulances and crew at Augusta fire stations – are areas that may result in cost savings for Augusta, Gibson said.
Gibson said they have an existing consulting firm, Washko and Associates, that can crunch Augusta’s EMS call numbers in about two weeks, but needs more data. Currently, they only have what Gold Cross submitted to the state. “A lot of the data is not there, and it has to be,” he said.
The plan is currently to use three quick-response vehicles with a paramedic and advanced life support-trained EMT on each, Gibson said. On each ambulance, it intends to have a driver with basic life support training and a paramedic or advanced EMT.
“We’d like to have a paramedic on every truck,” but don’t know if the revenue and available staff will allow it, he said. “We’re probably going to come to you with something different.”
Central wants to share a joint medical director with Augusta Fire Department, which has one to oversee its first responder medical calls.
Having a joint director ensures “a continuity of care” by ensuring EMS and fire use the same protocols, Gibson said. Central wants the same with medical supplies.
“I just want us to be on the same page,” so if a patient is passed from fire to EMS, “the whole thing is fluid,” he said.
Augusta Fire Chief Antonio Burden, who serves on the subcommittee and will be the EMS contract administrator, agreed.
“I truly feel that interoperability is a must. All that being a seamless operation results in better patient care,” Burden said.
About 40 hired so far
Procurement Director and subcommittee member Geri Sams asked about EMS workers who might lose their jobs because Augusta changed providers.
Since an online job portal opened Friday, Central has hired approximately 40 people, said Corey Thomas, the vice president of Central’s Georgia operations. It will conduct a mass hiring Monday and Tuesday at a job fair at the Hilton Garden Inn and may put up billboards near the hospitals, he said.
Coker said Central needs to hire roughly 100 people. Not only paramedics and EMTs, it needs to fill other positions such as office staff and mechanics, he said.
In hiring, it is “open to all” including those who want to work for multiple agencies, Coker said. Augusta has many emergency medical personnel who moonlight with other agencies, including Gold Cross.
The subcommittee meets again at 2 p.m. Wednesday in the Beazley Room at Augusta Municipal Building.
