Wilmington council approves contract to avoid EMS ‘crisis’
The Wilmington City Council on Thursday unanimously approved a $3.5 million contract with St. Francis Hospital to continue providing emergency ambulance services within the city’s borders.
The budget amendment ensures continued services through 2024 as Wilmington officials examine whether the service could be provided by the Wilmington Fire Department in the future.
City officials struck the one-year contract with St. Francis last year after months of negotiations between Wilmington and hospital administrators, according to Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic, the owner of the hospital.
The hospital sought an “equitable cost-sharing arrangement with the city,” said Jason Griffith, communications manager for Trinity Health. The provider has been absorbing “100% of patient transport costs” since 2008, he said.
All 13 council members voted in favor of the budget amendment Thursday evening.
Councilman Chris Johnson, who chairs the council’s Finance Committee, stressed that the issue is an “urgent crisis” that needs immediate attention.
“This is a temporary Band-Aid on the situation. We are strategizing with city officials to set up EMS within the fire department,” he said. “The good thing is there is a negotiation with the state, and hopefully they’ll be able to kick in some funds for a city program.”
Fire Department once had ambulance service
From the late 1970s until January 2011, the Wilmington Fire Department provided a Basic Life Support unit out of Fire Station #1, but it was always secondary to the privately contracted provider, which offered primary service to the city, according to Fire Chief John Looney.
At the time, he said the department had three transport ambulances that were staffed by six firefighters – two staff members for each of the three shifts. City officials said the BLS unit expenses were baked into the department budget, and not separate since staffing came “from existing fire shifts.”
The agreement with St. Francis covers services for 2024, and stipulates that hospital administrators should “continue to aggressively bill individuals who are transported in order to reduce the need for the city subsidy.”
Administrators and Wilmington officials will also jointly audit the billing process.
Costs could be more than $4 million
While the city explores providing emergency transport services through its fire department, Johnson said striking a deal with the state to provide some money for the endeavor will be key.
Without assistance from the state or other entity, the finance committee chairman said it is likely to cost “more than $4 million.”
Johnson said annually St. Francis is doing upwards of 30,000 runs in the city of Wilmington, many of whom are low-income and underinsured.
Hospital administrators have struggled to get full reimbursement for each transport, and without payment from the city, it’s left the provider as the sole entity responsible for absorbing those costs, Johnson said.
Providing this service at no cost to the city has cost the hospital about $9.5 million in the last four years, Griffith said.
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