Title
Public Health Department recommending Chairman be authorized to sign Amendment I to Agreement 200-S0811 with El Dorado County Regional Prehospital Emergency Services Operations Authority (JPA) to amend Section V, Article XI - Response Time Standards, Letter C. Maximum Response Times, to provide prehospital Advanced Life Support (ALS) services and dispatch services within County Service Area No. 7.
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Fiscal Impact/Change to Net County Cost: There is no fiscal impact or net County cost associated with this item.
Background: Effective July 1, 2006, the West Slope JPA entered into a new five-year contract with the County to provide ALS ambulance service to the West Slope service area. Since that time, the West Slope JPA has been unable to consistently meet response time requirements for the Urban and Rural areas, prompting the EMS Agency to provide a notice of minor breach to the West Slope JPA each month since July, 2006.
Beginning in November 2006, the West Slope JPA and Public Health Department/EMSA began meeting to discuss response time compliance. The States EMS Systems Standards and Guidelines states: each local EMS agency shall develop response time standards for medical responses. The ones currently being used in the CSA 7 response area were developed more than eight years ago and had not been reviewed since that time. After discussions with the West Slope JPA, it was determined that an analysis of actual performance data might suggest more appropriate response time standards. Such an analysis was performed by the County's EMS Agency using West Slope JPA response time performance data from 2006.
Currently, the West Slope JPA is substantially exceeding response time standards in semi-rural areas and is not meeting response time standards in urban and rural areas. The analysis was reviewed by a subcommittee of the West Slope JPA, consisting of fire chiefs, board members and staff. The subcommittee's recommendation to the West Slope JPA to modify...
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