TROY, Mich. – Six months after Star EMS took over ambulance service in Troy, the company has yet to meet the response-time benchmarks required under its contract with the city. However, officials said overall performance has improved compared with previous providers.
Under its agreement with Troy, Star EMS is supposed to respond to emergency calls in six minutes or less at least 90% of the time. City data showed the company has fallen short of that target since the contract began, though February was the closest.
Records indicate Star EMS reached the six-minute mark more than 70% of the time in four of the past six months and more than 80% of the time in the other two months. The 90% threshold has never been met.
“We will continue to do our absolute best to achieve that goal, but it’s highly unlikely that it’s going to happen,” said Charles Hughes, director of operations for Star EMS.
That six-minute standard comes from a feasibility study conducted by a third-party firm, according to city officials. The study reviewed data from Troy’s previous EMS provider, compared it with a community with a similar call volume and then set what was considered a best-practice goal based on national standards.
Despite the missed benchmark, Troy Fire Chief Peter Hullinger said Star EMS is delivering good service to residents.
“They’ve been actually doing a very good job,” Hullinger said.
He noted that before Star EMS took over, the city sometimes had to rely on neighboring departments to help cover calls.
“At times we were having to call neighboring fire departments for mutual aid to supplement the police and fire departments,” Hullinger said. “We would see longer delays before EMS was on scene while we were waiting as well. We have not seen that with Star.”
Star EMS leaders said they are working to improve response times but do not want to sacrifice safety in the process. Mentioning they don’t want their drivers to speed to meet a goal.
“Efficiencies might be made in our dispatching to shorten that time, to get the call to reach the ambulance quicker,” said Douglas Miles, the company’s vice president of administration.
Hullinger said the city has the option to review or revisit the contract if Star EMS continues to miss the six-minute, 90% benchmark, but he added that such a move is not likely at this time.
The fire chief said their will be another review of the services after the one year mark.