Andrew Martins, Managing Editor
Months after the governing body in Hillsborough approved a move to outsource the township’s EMS operations from the local provider Hillsborough Emergency Medical Services Corporation (HEMs) to Robert Wood Johnson, the major regional healthcare provider has formally taken the reins.
During the most recent township committee meeting, Committeeman Frank DelCore outlined how the transfer took place on June 4 and how RWJ has performed in the early weeks of its contract.
“Overall, we’ve had an effective start to the process…but I just wanted to make sure that everyone understood that we had a transition that has thus far been effective,” DelCore said.
Earlier this year, the committee, minus Committeeman Greg Burchette, voted unanimously in favor of awarding a five-year contract to Robert Wood Johnson, ultimately replacing HEMs in the process.
In the months leading up to that decision, residents and the governing body sparred over those efforts, with both sides referencing a September 2014 study from consulting firm Fitch and Associates that described HEMs as an “unsustainable” operation.
As a non-profit organization, HEMs received approximately $300,000 from the township per year. It was also supplied with several vehicles from the township.
Other factors, including large outstanding debts allegedly incurred by HEMs over the years, were cited as ways the outfit was “unsustainable.”
By contrast, the bid from RWJ was offered at no cost to the township, instead offering to make its money through bill collections from residents who would use their services and their health insurance providers.
After what was described by the township committee as multiple attempts to work with HEMs in addressing the study’s findings, a public bid for services was sought last December. RWJ was the only company to respond to the public call for bids.
Since the decision, residents have expressed their concern over a number of issues, including response times and a potential lack of familiarity with the community.
DelCore said the township has worked with RWJ to minimize any potential problems that could crop up in the transfer process.
“The supervisors of Robert Wood Johnson have toured the township with our OEM director prior to the June 4 date to ensure that they were aware of the areas of town that may be a bit unique or tend to have a surplus of calls so they would be familiar with where they would need to go,” DelCore said.
According to the contract with RWJ,the hospital committed to supplying two ambulances to the township on a 24-hour basis – one on the eastern boundary and one on the western boundary. Over the course of the day, those two vehicles would be constantly on the move to optimize response times.
Additionally, the hospital cited the chance for approximately “13 ambulances available within Somerset and Middlesex counties” as additional resources in the event of an emergency.
Though the bid from RWJ covers basic life support and standby services for community events, other services like extrication and water rescue will be handled by the township’s fire companies.
“Prior to the transition of those services, there were roughly 50 members of the fire district that were trained as extrication technicians,” DelCore said.
DelCore also reported that five former HEMs members applied to join RWJ, with four being hired. The fifth withdrew their application.
Since June 4, DelCore said RWJ has responded to 77 calls for basic life support, which he said was “consistent with historical call volume.” Of those calls, he said none were over the required response time.
“Robert Wood has been fully compliant with the requirements of their response time in terms of their contract thus far,” DelCore said. “As they continue to initiate and respond to calls, it allows them to build on their dynamic deployment system, which will allow them to essentially anticipate movements within the township and where they need to be stationed so they can have optimal response times. The more calls they go on, the more data they get and that will improve their response times.”
Moving forward, the township said they were interested in potentially keeping volunteer EMS services going. As a result, Business Administrator Anthony Ferrera said the municipality is looking into what it should do with its taxpayer-funded ambulances.
“We were advised by our mechanics that because of the diesel engines, letting them sit around is probably not going to make a lot of sense, so we’re working with our EMS liaisons and our OEM director to see what makes the most sense going forward,” he said. “The majority of the new ones will be here and the older ones will probably be auctioned off.”
