Tower Health, Southern Berks merge ambulance service
Southern Berks Regional Emergency Medical Service and Tower Health have completed a merger agreement for ambulance service.
The merger, effective Dec. 6, creates a unified patient transportation system to serve Berks County and the Tower Health service area, according to a Tower Health statement.
Reading Hospital is home base for Tower, which owns hospitals, clinics and urgent care clinics in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Tower runs TowerDI
RECT, a nonprofit ambulance organization.
The new model will include critical care, emergent and non-emergent patient transportation under the Tower Health brand. With the merger, TowerDIRECT will have 141 employees responding to more than 22,000 calls annually, according to a press release.
“Regional EMS providers face challenges related to changing payment models and workforce development,” said Dr. Edward B. Michalik, a member of the Southern Berks board of directors, in a press release. “Over the past few years we have been collaborating with Tower Health to understand how we can work together to ensure the viability of EMS service in our region.”
According to Clint Matthews, president and CEO of Tower Health, the health system is committed to ensuring access to high quality ambulance services in Berks.
“We are pleased that we can work with SBREMS providers, which shares Tower Health’s long tradition of community service,” Matthews said in a press release.
According to
Tower
Health, the new model of care will provide multiple benefits to the community including:
• Improved availability and sustainability of emergency, nonemergency, critical care and pediatric patient transport services for communities within Berks County and the Tower Health service area.
• The opportunity to enhance patient care and improve operational performance.
• Real-time access to the Tower Health electronic medical records to measure and improve patient outcomes.
• Better access to patient transport services, improving the timeliness of discharge from inpatient and outpatient facilities.
• Enhanced efforts to improve patient care initiation and transitions in care settings.
• The ability to enhance community paramedicine and patient outreach programs.
“Tower Health is committed to the strong emergency 911 work SBREMS is doing within Berks County and we are committed to continuing this level of service while providing expanded services and sustainability for the future of EMS,” said Dr. Charles Barbera, vice president of prehospital and unscheduled care for Tower Health and TowerDIRECT, in a press release.
Southern Berks was established through a merger among Birdsboro Community Ambulance, Gov. Mifflin Area Ambulance and Southern Berks Paramedics in October 1995.
The organization operates stations in Birdsboro, Grill and Amity providing advanced life support and basic life support emergency services to the residents and businesses of Amity, Birdsboro, Brecknock Township, Cumru Township, Kenhorst, Mohnton, Robeson Township, Shillington and Union Township.