(a) The City of Salem shall use and maintain a call-by-call rotation system for ambulance calls received by the City dispatch center. The call-by-call rotation shall be limited to no more than three (3) separate and unrelated private ambulance providers. For any emergency call originating through the City of Salem or any of its departments, when the patient/caller does not indicate an unsolicited "choice," the dispatcher shall contact the next provider on the rotation list. If that provider is not available or cannot arrive within the designated response time as set out hereafter in subsections (b) and (c) of this Section, the dispatcher will contact the next provider in the rotation. If this ambulance is also unavailable to respond as required by this ordinance, the City may dispatch the City Fire Department Ambulance if available. The dispatcher may use discretion to handle dropped calls or necessary back up calls. The City dispatcher shall comply with the rotation list, but in times of exceptional call volume requests, may use their discretion to call any provider to ensure that proper emergency services are dispatched.
(1) When an ambulance company participating in the ambulance rotation system is called directly for a medical emergency by any client, consumer or such other non-City dispatch or personnel for a life threatening emergency, said ambulance company must notify the Salem Dispatch immediately and directly for the purposes of dispatching first responders if said ambulance company's response time will exceed five (5) minutes.
(b) Each ambulance company wishing to participate in the rotation system to provide emergency medical and ambulance services to the citizens of the City of Salem shall be required to have and maintain a physical building within the Salem City Limits not later than thirty (30) days from the time in which this section takes effect. Such building must conform to the standards as set out by the Ohio Medical Transportation Board, the Ohio Pharmacy Board, the Ohio Revised Code and all other relevant Fire and Building Codes as deemed necessary by the State of Ohio or the City of Salem. The Ambulance Review Board shall have discretion to grant an additional thirty (30) days for an ambulance company to obtain a compliant building, or to bring a building into compliance, after this section takes effect. The ambulance company must be licensed by the State of Ohio, meet all statutory requirements as outlined in the Ohio Revised Code and operate as advanced life support service under the Ohio Ambulance Licensing Board (OALB). Each company wishing to be included in this rotation must submit a copy of their current State of Ohio Ambulance License to the Ambulance Review Board through the Director of Public Service and Safety. It is the responsibility of each ambulance company to ensure that a current OALB license is on file with the Ambulance Review Board. In order to qualify to participate in the rotation, each providing ambulance company must have a paramedic staff and an advanced life support equipped emergency unit. Such unit must be capable of responding to emergency calls from the City dispatch within nine (9) minutes of the call receipt to be on the scene.
Anytime an ambulance company that is part of the current rotation does not have a unit in the City, or has no units available due to other emergencies or issues, they shall notify dispatch and go off of the rotation until a unit returns to the City or they have units available in the City for immediate use.
(c) An Ambulance Review Board is hereby created which shall consist of the Police Chief, the Fire Chief and the Director of Public Service and Safety, who will decide in their absolute discretion whether any ambulance provider shall be listed on the City rotation list. In making this decision they will use the applicant's service record and performance in this or other communities. Other factors to consider are:
(1) Overall response time integrity.
(2) Percentage of time the company has not had ambulance available to respond to calls initiated by government entities or medical facilities.
(3) The ability to place an ambulance on the scene of an emergency (Code III) within nine (9) minutes or less, ninety percent (90%) of the time, and the ability to place an ambulance on the scene of a non-emergency immediate dispatch (Code II) within fifteen (15) minutes or less, ninety percent (90%) of the time. The City understands that due to periods of inclement weather or other hazardous road conditions that response times may be slightly longer. Due to the safety of all personnel involved such occasions shall be noted as excused exceptions by the Ambulance Review Board on a case by case basis.
(4) The number and types of Basic Life Support and Advanced Life Support ambulances operated twenty-four (24) hours a day.
(5) Responsiveness to handling of complaints.
(6) Ability to provide computer generated response time reports.
(7) Willingness to participate in disaster planning.
(8) Willingness to provide "stand-by service" at community events.
(9) Ability and commitment to respond to community needs as demand for service increases.
(10) Ability to retain for thirty (30) days voice recordings of all its dispatch telephone lines and its two-way radio traffic.
(11) Whether the provider has a business location in the City.
(12) Any other relevant factor.
(d) The Ambulance Review Board shall at their discretion convene meetings and adopt rules for their meetings that they deem necessary for the administration of this section. Further, the Ambulance Review Board in addition to determining what ambulance companies will be on the rotation, can demand response times or other relevant information to determine that ambulance companies are in compliance with this section. The Ambulance Review Board is further empowered to remove an ambulance company from the rotation based upon any or all of the factors listed in subsection (c) above.
(e) If a registered ambulance company, that is part of the current rotation, is having a temporary issue with providing services, they may ask the Ambulance Review Board for an exception to the ninety percent (90%) response time for a time to be determined by the Ambulance Review Board, before being removed from the rotation.
(f) Any grievance or issue that any ambulance service provider has with regard to any paragraph or section associated with this ordinance shall first address that grievance with the Ambulance Review Board by requesting a hearing of that Board in writing delivered to the Salem Safety and Service Director at his office in City Hall. Upon the receipt of any such request for hearing, the Ambulance Review Board shall convene a hearing as soon as is practicable in consideration of the schedules and availability of the members of the Board and the party requesting the hearing. The Board shall in its sole discretion have the authority to resolve the issue or grievance in whatever manner that they believe accurately adheres to the requirements of this ordinance and is in the best interest of the citizens of the City of Salem.
(Ord. 230516-35. Passed 5-22-23.)