City to Study Taking Over Paramedic Operations

San Diego City Council members Tuesday ordered the city manager to complete an in-depth study to determine whether the city should switch paramedic services to the fire department rather than extending an existing contract with Hartson Medical Services.

Talk of a city-owned system surfaced in early April, shortly after more than 100 City of San Diego paramedics who are employed by Hartson won union representation and subsequently threatened to strike after contract negotiations broke down.

On April 2, the council approved a paramedic fee increase of $65 with the understanding that the money would be used to offset the cost of salary increases. Hartson employees who serve the City of San Diego are working under a temporary contract.

Hartson earlier had asked the council for a two-year extension of an existing contract that will expire next summer. But the council on Tuesday instead voted to delay negotiations with Hartson until after the city manager’s office completes its study of whether the fire department could provide prompt emergency care at less cost than Hartson.

According to a preliminary city manager’s report, “accountability and coordination” typically improve when paramedic duties are incorporated into a government agency such as the fire department because a “single agency is responsible for all functions.” The city manager’s report suggested that 22 of the nation’s 25 largest cities control paramedic services through city or county government.

But Hartson Chief Executive Glen R. Roberts on Tuesday disagreed with a portion of the staff report that faulted Hartson for failing to meet performance standards incorporated into its current contract.

The response standards require that, for 95% of its overall calls each month, Hartson have paramedics on the scene within 10 minutes. In recent months, Hartson has failed to meet that minimum, according to the city staff. But the staff report also indicated that in “the majority of instances when Hartson failed to meet the requirement, it was by less than 1%.”

Roberts maintained that Hartson’s failure to meet the response-time minimums during two recent months were “blips” that were not in keeping with Hartson’s overall record.

The staff report also hit Hartson for failing to meet minority hiring goals.

Roberts acknowledged that Hartson had failed to meet its equal opportunity goals. But he contended that Hartson’s total number of women and minorities was up dramatically from 1987, even though percentages were down.

Eliseo Medina, president of Service Employees International Union, Local 102, on Tuesday questioned what would happen to existing paramedics should the fire department take over emergency responses now handled by Hartson.

Medina also questioned whether Mayor Maureen O’Connor and some council members began considering a municipal paramedic system only after Hartson’s union-represented members began considering a strike earlier this year. “They know that firefighters legally can’t strike,” Medina said.

The proposed fire department paramedic operation won support Tuesday from Ron Saathoff, president of the San Diego City Fire Fighters, Local 145.

“We believe very strongly in the fire department model,” Saathoff said. “And we won’t give our support to any proposal that doesn’t give full protection to the 108 existing paramedics.”

The city proposal is expected to call for the stationing of 139 fire fighter/paramedics at each of its 42 engine companies. An additional 60 paramedics would be assigned to remain on ambulance duty.

Saathoff said the fire department’s “average call response time is five minutes or less, which is half the response time of Hartson.”

However, the city attorney eventually will have to rule on the validity of a fire department-based paramedic unit because of a city rule that requires paramedics to arrive at emergency scenes in an ambulance.

Roberts on Tuesday asked council members to continue negotiating with Hartson even if the city staff report indicates that the fire department operation makes economic sense. San Diego might end up with “some kind of a blend” of private and public service, Roberts said.