San Tan Valley, Queen Creek's neighbor in Pinal County, has approved a three-year contract that holds American Medical Response to a tighter clock on emergency ambulance calls inside town limits, SanTanValley.com reported.
Under the deal, which the council approved Oct. 7, ambulances must arrive within 10 minutes on 90% of emergency runs that use lights and sirens, within 15 minutes on 95% and within 20 minutes on every one. Urgent calls that do not need lights and sirens carry a 20-minute standard for 90% of responses.
The clock starts when AMR's dispatch center sends a call to an ambulance and stops when the first unit arrives.
AMR already handles 911 ambulance calls there under a state-issued certificate of necessity, which spells out its service area and required response times. According to town staff, that permit gives Casa Grande, Florence and Coolidge quicker targets, while the San Tan Valley area has been on its slower, unincorporated-area times.
The contract applies the quicker targets inside town limits while leaving the permit itself alone, so unincorporated parts of the area stay under the state permit's times.
Where response times stand
Figures AMR presented for the past four months show it got to 60% of local calls within 10 minutes, 89% within 15 and 97% within 20. A company representative said performance has improved since AMR put more ambulances on the road and repositioned them.
