Gov. Paterson's EMS plan will slow response - city
Wednesday, March 4th 2009, 11:39 PM
ALBANY- City officials on Wednesday warned of slower ambulance response times if Gov. Paterson's $60 million cut to the Emergency Medical Service goes through.
"In terms of system performance, this could set us back 20 years," said Patrick Bahnken, president of the FDNY Uniformed EMT's, Paramedics and Inspectors.
Once a part of the hospital system, Medicaid money continued to help fund the EMS system even after it was transferred to the city's Fire Department in 1996.
Paterson wants to change the Medicaid formula that funds hospitals. Under his plan, the $60 million that goes to EMS would be spent elsewhere - a 23% cut to the system's total funding.
That, officials said, would result in 22% fewer ambulance shifts, going from 611 to 471.
That doesn't include a $3 million cut in city funding that would eliminate 30 ambulance shifts as part of the across the board cuts pushed by Mayor Bloomberg, officials said.
The average response time is a best-ever 6 minutes and 38 seconds, said EMS Chief John Peruggia. That would grow to 8 minutes and 10 seconds if the governor's cuts go through, the worst response time since 1996.
Representatives of the mayor's office, FDNY and the EMT union met yesterday with Paterson's budget office and key lawmakers.
Paterson budget spokesman Matt Anderson said the administration is talking with the city to find ways to "ensure funding for ambulette services are continued at expected levels."
A new state budget is due by April .
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