EMS system study reveals the need for funding increase, or longer response times

CHARLOTTE — Mecklenburg County leaders received an update on Tuesday on preliminary findings from an EMS System Study.

In November 2025, Mecklenburg County Commissioners and Mecklenburg (EMS) selected the company, Healthcare Strategies, to conduct a study following contract disputes between MEDIC and Charlotte Fire and other local fire departments. The study is intended to guide discussions surrounding the future of EMS services in Mecklenburg County. Channel 9 has covered this extensively since Charlotte Fire looked to end its contract with MEDIC in 2024.

Bill Bullard, president of Healthcare Strategist, said his consultants have spent a lot of time reviewing the current EMS System Model. He highlighted, on Tuesday, MEDIC’s outstanding performance on cardiac arrest survival, and credited the county’s financial support.

“We [my consultants] rode on the ambulances. We were in dispatch. We were on the fire engines,” said Bullard. “The consultant that was on that ambulance has been doing it for 54 years. He said it was the smoothest and best cardiac arrest resuscitation ever seen. So, kudos. That leads into the fact, we’re talking about a top-tier system. If I’m going to have a heart attack, I’m going to want it in this community, because you have some great save rates, and you need to be acknowledged for what’s going well.”

Bullard said through their review that they’ve come up with several suggestions to improve the EMS System in Mecklenburg County. He said the county could adjust response time goals, a current challenge for MEDIC, or increase revenue as the EMS system is performing above national averages. He said if the county chooses not to increase response times, he suggested providing MEDIC a $6 million county subsidy or rate increase.

He said MEDIC should continue to prioritize response times for the most serious calls, while expanding alternatives to an ambulance. Right now, dispatchers can transfer 911 callers to a nurse triage line or a rideshare service.

Bullard said first responders are critical to the EMS System. For years, MEDIC has relied on firefighters to respond to low-priority calls while reserving its ambulances for priority calls. Bullard said the county would need to fund MEDIC more money or have MEDIC reimburse first responders for responding to MEDIC-hold/ non-priority calls.

“In this system, one of the things that you’ve done, and this is considered a best practice, probably not common practice in the country, is not sending an ambulance to every call,” Bullard said. “If there’s a high percentage chance that particular call type doesn’t need a transport to the hospital, maybe the fire department can just take care of it.”

He also suggested that local towns join the EMS Agency Board of Commissioners or other committees so they have representation on EMS decisions. Last year, local towns expressed concern about the current EMS system and requested more detailed data from MEDIC.

The final EMS Study will be released in a few months.

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