City of Spokane, AMR eye four-year contract for ambulance

The Spokane City Council will soon decide who will provide ambulance service for people in Spokane, and how much each ride will cost.

Wary of a 28% price hike on ambulance service in the middle of a pandemic, the Spokane City Council agreed in 2020 to a one-year contract with American Medical Response last year.

Now the contract is up, and Spokane Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer wants it extended for four years – at the same elevated price.

The council will have to weigh whether to approve the extension or take a gamble and rebid the contract, in hopes of finding a company that will provide adequate ambulance service at a lower cost.

The one-year contract extension expires in May.

The issue was raised at a meeting of the Public Safety and Community Health Committee on Monday but drew few comments and questions from council members.

The Spokane Fire Department provides Emergency Medical Services in Spokane, but the city contracts with a private ambulance vendor for patient transportation.

Schaeffer and Mayor Nadine Woodward’s administration have said despite last year’s price increase, AMR remains a good value.

Schaeffer said a primary benefit of a contract extension would be stability as the city emerges from the pandemic.

The contract allows the city to audit AMR’s equipment, personnel and training, Schaeffer said. It carries penalties if the company fails to meet various standards.

“We’re very involved in the level of service,” Schaeffer said Monday.

The Spokane Fire Department has presented the council with a list of rates charged by AMR in other Pacific Northwest Communities.

“Our goal is to stay in the neighborhood of our comparables, and keep the price as low as we can for the community,” Schaeffer said.

The company, which is the largest of its kind in the United States, charges patients in Spokane a base rate of $975 for its basic life support service and its Level 1 advanced life support service.

For comparison, both levels of service cost $857.39 for people in Spokane County.

Level 1 advanced life support service starts at a base rate of $1,220 in the city of Tacoma and $1,050 in East Pierce. In South Snohomish the rate is $975 and in Kootenai County it is $903 for nonresidents, who pay a higher rate than residents due to Idaho tax subsidies.

Patients in the City of Spokane pay the highest per-mile transport rate, which is tacked on to the base rate, at $23.45. However, the typical Spokane patient may not have as many miles to travel to the hospital compared to a Kootenai County patient.

Schaeffer views rebidding ambulance service as a risk, as the city may actually see its rates increase if it seeks a new vendor.

Councilwoman Lori Kinnear asked Schaeffer if the department had considered integrated patient transportation into its own slate of services, but Schaeffer said there is not a legal path to doing so under state law. Such a service would also be cost prohibitive, he added.

Last year, council members were worried about the 28% rate hike. They turned down a proposed five-year contract and opted for a one-year interim deal instead, pledging to reassess their options in 2021.

Prior to the rate increase last year, Spokane patients were charged $757 for both basic life support or advanced life support service, with a $22.88 per-mile charge added to the base rate.