Ambulance response times, which have ballooned in recent years, took a turn for the worse between July and October with one of the most precipitous declines of the Adams administration.
The time it takes to respond to a life-threatening emergency jumped by approximately half a minute, according to the mayor’s city agency scorecard of the first four months of the fiscal year. For a person in distress, those are critical seconds that can mean the difference between survival and death. If the trend goes on, the current fiscal year will be the worst of the Adams administration and continue a years-long decline.
Data from the Mayor’s Preliminary Management Report show end-to-end response times for ambulances and fire companies have increased from an average of 9 minutes 30 seconds in the last year of the de Blasio administration, to 10 minutes 3 seconds in the last fiscal year, which ended in July. Between July and October, the city added 17 ponderous seconds to its average.
In recent years, Fire Department officials have offered several reasons to explain what’s slowing down ambulances, including traffic congestion, hospital closures and fewer vehicles in service. Last February, then-Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanaugh told reporters a large number of 911 calls with medical emergencies had tied up resources and strained the system.
The department says that remains the case though both the number of actual medical emergencies and the number of medical emergencies requiring transport declined between July and October, compared to the same period the year before.
“While several factors on our streets — like a drastic increase in outer-borough traffic congestion and higher call volumes — are beyond our control, we are using every tool in our toolbox to improve response times,” said spokeswoman Amanda Farinacci.
The majority of the increase in response for both NYPD and EMS was due to longer time on the road, as opposed to call or dispatch periods, she said, noting that congestion pricing may help improve the situation.
The department is looking for more ways to eliminate the need for transit in some cases, recently launching a telehealth program that diverts non-acute calls to a remote appointment with a public hospital provider. Last June, the FDNY rolled out a non-transport paramedic program to provide on-site care, Farinacci said.
In the past, fire officials have pointed to a drop-off in private ambulances since the pandemic forced dispatchers to rely on fewer vehicles, a larger portion of which are city-operated. The department has also suffered from closures and service reductions at hospitals, forcing ambulances to drive farther distances to drop off patients, said EMS Chief of Operations Michael Fields in testimony before the City Council in November.
The latest data shows the department continues to lose vehicle in-service hours. At the same time, the response times for fire companies is 43 seconds faster than other ambulances.
Last fall, the Fire Department began piloting a hospital liaison program to improve turnaround time at the emergency department, an area that can ensnare EMS teams for more than 41 minutes at a time. Around the same time, turnaround time at hospitals increased by 1 minute 42 seconds.
While the Department at the time said the plan was to open that program at 9 locations by the end of 2024, so far it is only operating at six, Farinacci said. At those sites, turnaround time is at least 7 minutes faster, she noted.
