AMR agreement nears conclusion, ML offers building for call center

Nearly all have now signed off on ambulance provider agreement; AMR may move, expand area call centers

By RYAN LANCASTER

Staff Reporter

Discussions that began in 2006 regarding a countywide ambulance service agreement are on course for conclusion, with all parties expected to have signed off on a finalized contract with American Medical Response by next week.

The cities of Cheney, Medical Lake and Airway Heights, along with Spokane Valley Fire and Spokane County fire districts 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 13, joined together to negotiate fixed costs for ambulance rides and maximum response times for different areas.

Spokane Valley Fire will administer the contract.

The Medical Lake City Council is expected to approve the interlocal agreement July 20, one of the final municipalities to do so, according to the city's fire chief Jeff Estes.

Estes said maximum response times for Medical Lake will mirror those in Cheney at 15 minutes for a coded response, with lights and sirens, and 25 minutes for a non-coded response. The contract also sets a base fee of $941 plus $17.57 per mile traveled, with exceptions for low-income individuals.

“This stabilizes the rates for everybody in the area,” Estes said. “For some it might go up a little and for others it will go down, but it's a guaranteed price. Before it might vary wildly.”

Rocco Roncarati, AMR general manager for this region, said the company is pleased with the final result of a lengthy negotiations process. “The contract includes some good language for the communities and some good response times. Overall it's a good product on both ends,” he said.

Over the next 90 days the ambulance provider will assess response times and then reevaluate the placement of regional call centers based on that data, Roncarati said. On the West Plains a team of on-call emergency medical technicians currently operates from a center at the Super 8 Motel off Exit 272 on Interstate 90.

Medical Lake has a long-standing offer to AMR for a low-market lease on a city-owned building at 115 W. Brooks Road for use as an emergency call center. The unused building, once a caretaker's residence for the nearby Ball and Dodd funeral home, has been refurbished since the city purchased the property for $175,000 in 2002. The funeral home is now being used as a Medical Lake/Espanola SCOPE station.

“Medical Lake is a facility we're looking at (for a possible call center), but until we get a solid look at the data we can't make any decisions,” Roncarati said. “We may have to have one in Cheney and one in Medical Lake, we won't know until we look at the feasibility and availability of all locations.”

Ryan Lancaster can be reached at [email protected].