CHARLOTTE — The evaluation of MEDIC in Mecklenburg County is finally complete.
Healthcare Strategies completed its study looking at MEDIC’s response times, partnerships, and even pay.
For over a decade, Channel 9’s Gina Esposito has reported on every development since county leaders called for the study last year.
[ PREVIOUS COVERAGE: EMS system study reveals the need for funding increase, or longer response times ]
The new 104-page study highlights the agency’s success with patient outcomes, and it offers ways the system can be improved.
“The study focused on fiscal year 2025 data, which was our busiest year in history,” JP Peterson, executive director, MEDIC, said.
Peterson says the county is growing and so are response times. A final study by a consultant group says while medic is currently not reaching the country’s compliance goal, patients are still receiving some of the best care in the county.
The study recommends Medic get more funding or increase its response times. The highest priority call would go up by 1 minute from 10:59 response time to 11:59.
“The most affordable thing to do would be to raise the response times,” Peterson said, “However, we understand very full how important response times are for lots of reasons, not just how fast we get to the call in a life-saving emergency (cut to) but also in the customer service aspect.”
The study also addressed medical calls and pay disputes with fire departments. Medic just signed another 1-year contract with Charlotte, Huntersville and Cornelius fire departments.
“It didn’t really address what types of calls the fire departments run or don’t run,” Peterson said.
What the study does recommend is either elimating first responder only calls or compensating fire departments for those calls that save MEDIC money.
In a statement Charlotte Fire Department said it continues to review the study’s recommendations including those related to response models and funding.
Statement from Charlotte Fire Department
The Medic study was recently completed, and Charlotte Fire continues to review the findings and work with Medic, Mecklenburg County and other stakeholders to identify the best path forward for the residents of Charlotte.
To clarify, there was an extension of the existing agreement between Charlotte Fire and Medic, but no new long-term contract has been signed. Charlotte Fire continues to review the study’s recommendations, including those related to response models and funding, as part of the broader discussion about how the system can be improved.
Our primary operational focus remains reducing the amount of time Charlotte Fire crews are committed to medical calls and reducing our response to lower-acuity calls where a fire response may not be necessary. Those changes would allow firefighters and fire trucks to remain available for structure fires, rescues, vehicle accidents and the many other serious emergencies we respond to every day.
Fire Chief Johnson will remain involved in the discussions surrounding the study and its recommendations as stakeholders determine the next steps for the EMS system.
As for what’s next the EMS study committee has been tasked with prioritizing recommendations that were in the study.
Peterson noted over the next year, it’s likely they’ll discuss possible changes to response times, and first responder medical calls.