KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Knox County Commissioners voted Monday to relieve ambulance provider AMR of nearly $900,000 in fines incurred when ambulances were late to respond to emergencies during the Omicron COVID-19 surge.
The contract amendment extends relief first passed during the height of the coronavirus pandemic and will apply retroactively from December 2021 through April 2022.
At a work session last week, a representative from the Knox County Health Department told commissioners the delays were part of a domino effect of the virus' squeeze on the healthcare system. As hospitals filled up with COVID patients, ambulances were forced to wait to offload patients at emergency rooms. That cut down on the number of crews available to respond to calls, resulting in response time delays.
"Over the last several months, we've certainly seen a healthcare crisis," AMR Operations Manager Daryl Warren said. "It’s not a unique situation to Knox County, but it is a unique challenge for healthcare across the United States."
Commissioners were told delays in December and January cost AMR more than $1 million. Under the fine relief proposal, AMR won't owe fines when three or more Knox County hospitals have ambulance waits of more than an hour, KCHD said.
It will save the company at least $887,000, KCHD said.
Warren said the decline in COVID-19 case numbers recently has helped the company meet response time goals.
"We are seeing a decrease in the omicron variant and with that we're seeing a decrease in how many hours it takes to offload our patients," he said.
However, he added that staffing remains a challenge.
"It's a completely different world that we live in today than we lived in pre-COVID," he said.
Ambulance staffing issues plague other agencies as well. Morristown-Hamblen EMS Director Danny Houseright said his agency has only 60% of the staff he needs.
"We're not in dire straits," he said, but "there's not enough ambulance crews to go around."
Houseright said he's looking to hire for 12 open positions and may have to ask the county commission for assistance in benefit and pay incentives to attract more applicants.