Knox County's ambulance provider was fined almost $500,000 for failing to respond to emergency calls fast enough in May. AMR improved its overall response times, but still missed its goal on 23% of calls and turned in worse response times on serious calls within the city in May compared to April.
Under the new contract that went into effect Feb. 1, AMR is fined when it does not achieve a 90% response rate on the most serious calls within a specific time that varies according to the location. Response times for priority 1 calls must be faster in the city of Knoxville (10 minutes) than in the county outside city limits (20 minutes). AMR also is fined for delayed responses to less serious calls.
Response times were the worst within Knoxville city limits. In the city, crews took longer than 10 minutes to arrive for the most serious calls 31% of the time. Those fines added up to up almost $245,000.
In the eastern part of the county, AMR accrued $82,000 in penalties. Crews took longer than 20 minutes to arrive for the most serious calls 13% of the time.
In the western part of the county, AMR took longer than 20 minutes to arrive for the most serious calls 9% of the time, meaning it achieved its goal for that category of calls, but was billed $27,000 in penalties for delays on less serious calls.
AMR has been under scrutiny for delayed response times when Knox County patients experience medical emergencies. It has implemented programs to do better, and some of those changes are making a difference.
Response times have generally improved since the new contract started in February.
Are response times improving?
Overall in May, response times complied with the contract's requirements 79% of the time.
A mandated monthly report from AMR on response times measures the seriousness of calls, with priority 1 considered life-threatening, and priority 3 considered minor.
- Response times in Knoxville were within 10 minutes 77% of the time overall and 69% of the time for Priority 1 calls.
- Response times in eastern Knox County were within 20 minutes 79% of the time overall and 87% of the time for Priority 1 calls.
- Response times in western Knox County were within 20 minutes 88% of the time overall and 91% of the time for Priority 1 calls. May was the first time AMR has reached the contract's targeted compliance zone of 90% or more.
Where does the money from fines go?
AMR's was given three months to ramp up its services to meet new expectations before any penalties kicked in, so May is the first month the company was held financially responsible for extended wait times.
Ambulances that respond one minute late or less are penalized $266.63, and ambulances that are more than one minute late are penalized $598.12. In Knoxville city limits, "late" means it took an ambulance longer than 10 minutes to arrive. In the rest of the county, it means ambulances took longer than 20 minutes to arrive.
Knox County is paying AMR roughly $2 million annually for increased staffing to meet the new contract's expectations. When AMR doesn't hit its targets, penalties are deducted from the subsidy Knox County pays the company.
That means if penalties added up to more than the $2 million subsidy, AMR would have to pay the county the difference.
Kevin Parton, the senior director of the Knox County Health Department, told Knox News the money from penalties goes into the county's general fund.
Allie Feinberg reports on politics for Knox News. Email her: allie.feinberg@knoxnews.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @alliefeinberg.
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