Ambulance response times appear to be getting worse in Topeka.
That’s according to a Wichita State University study, but American Medical Response is pushing back on those claims.
The percentage of “late calls” by AMR, Shawnee County’s ambulance service, nearly doubled between 2020 and 2022 in “Zone 1,” which covers most of Topeka, Topeka City Council members were told Tuesday by Tom Jenkins, project associate and technical expert for the Public Policy & Management Center at Wichita State.
Jon Antrim, AMR’s regional director, took issue with that in a statement provided Friday to The Capital-Journal.
AMR wasn’t invited to participate in or contribute to the Wichita State study, but it has uncovered some “fundamental problems with its design and data assumptions,” Antrim said.
“We look forward to working with our fellow stakeholders on a more comprehensive, objective evaluation of EMS (emergency medical services) in the City of Topeka — including whether the contractual performance measures, which we are meeting, align with the community’s needs and desires,” he said.
What rules are in place now?
AMR, Shawnee County’s only ambulance service since 1994, is working under contract with Shawnee County’s government through 2026.
AMR remains in substantial compliance with that contract, which requires its ambulances to respond “on time” to at least 80% of calls, Antrim said.
If the company fails to accomplish that, it is “fined accordingly” and considered to be out of compliance for the month involved, said Nelson Casteel, ambulance compliance officer for the county.
The response time required for a call to be considered “on time” varies in different parts of the county, with those requirements being spelled out in the county’s contract with AMR.
That contract also outlines various additional performance measures AMR must meet.
Why is the city council talking about ambulance service?
The Topeka City Council heard Tuesday from Jenkins, the former fire chief of Rogers, Arkansas, who now helps communities make data-driven decisions, according to the website of his employer, WSU’s Public Policy & Management Center.
That center has been helping Topeka’s city government look at matters that include whether the Topeka Fire Department should eventually become the city’s ambulance service provider.
Jenkins suggested the Topeka department isn’t close to being able to provide ambulance service but could, in time, put itself in a position to do that.
He showed council members a graphic indicating AMR’s response times have worsened over the past three years in “Zone 1,” which Jenkins said covers most of the city.
AMR’s contract with Shawnee County requires it in Zone 1 to average a response time of nine minutes or less on emergency calls and 14 minutes or less on non-emergency calls, Jenkins said.
The graphic he showed indicated that AMR in that zone was late on the following:
• 8.4% of the 16,459 calls it made in 2020.
• 9.6% of the 17,242 calls it made in 2021.
• 14.1% of the 20,147 calls it made in 2022.
Antrim responded in Friday’s statement that he’s “incredibly proud of the high-quality emergency medical service” AMR provides this community.
“Response time compliance within the City of Topeka itself, which was not addressed in the WSU study and is not a specific contract performance metric, was 91.13% in 2021 and 92.56% in 2022,” he said. “Citizens can take comfort in knowing that they are receiving excellent, timely care from a team of highly trained EMTs and paramedics.”
What are the figures countywide?
Records maintained by Shawnee County show the number of calls AMR made throughout the county dropped from 21,848 in 2019 to 18,134 in 2020, then rose to 19,081 in 2021 and 22,431 in 2022.
Meanwhile, the percentage of calls AMR made that were defined in its contract with the county as being “on time” rose from 88.43% in 2019 to 88.93% in 2020, then fell to 87.58% in 2021 and 82.26% in 2022.
AMR was on time on the 85.13% of the 15,610 calls it made over the first nine months of 2023, said records the county provided The Capital-Journal this past week. Records for the last three months of 2023 aren’t yet available.
The amount the county fined AMR fell from $43,690 for 2019 to $24,630 for 2020, then rose to $32,730 for 2021 and $44,210 for 2022, records say.
How was COVID involved?
County ambulance compliance officer Casteel said circumstances affecting emergency medical services changed between 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, and 2022.
“I would note that 2019 and 2022 were two full years outside of the pandemic that we saw the system really expand with calls,” he said. “During 2020 there were much less calls for service due to the pandemic; and the later parts of 2021 then saw the system starting to see an increase in the calls, but it did not expand fully until 2022.”
What’s happening to the availability of paramedics?
The performance of AMR’s team “is even more remarkable” when one considers that its call volume here increased by more than 20% from 2020 to 2022, Antrim said.
“I could not be prouder of our team, the work they do and the difference they make every single day in this community,” he said.
Antrim stressed that, as Jenkins noted in his presentation to the council, the emergency medical services industry faces a significant shortage of paramedics.
“We have developed new strategies to retain and recruit EMS professionals in this competitive market,” he said.
What’s the city going to do?
After hearing from Jenkins, Topeka Mayor Mike Padilla acknowledged he’d heard concerns expressed by residents about ambulance service here.
The key question, said City Councilman Neil Dobler, involves what range or level of ambulance service this community needs.
Padilla asked interim city manager Richard U. Nienstedt to create a task force to look at the matters involved, which Nienstedt agreed to do.
“Give us a structure to bring to the body (mayor and council), something that we can take a first step on and answer that basic question as posed by Councilman Dobler,” Padilla said.
Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.
