MedStar

As Fort Worth launched its in-house emergency medical services at midnight July 1, there wasn’t much dramatic fanfare.

As a MedStar operations supervisor, he’s had a front row seat to watch the final details of Fort Worth’s takeover of the company’s EMS operations fall into place. Beginning July 1, the city will provide its own emergency medical services, or EMS, within the fire department, instead of contracting to its 39-year-long provider, MedStar.

Officials updated Fort Worth City Council on the status of the transition at an April 15 work session, detailing budget projections, staffing changes and infrastructure preparation.

Last May, Fort Worth City Council members unanimously approved a plan to dissolve the region’s longtime EMS provider, MedStar. The city opted to switch to a fire-based EMS system, housed within its fire department.

The moves are the latest step in an ongoing process to establish a fire-based EMS system in the city.

As the end of the year inches closer, Fort Worth is making steady progress on its plan to dissolve longtime EMS provider MedStar.

When the Fort Worth City Council made the historic decision to dissolve MedStar and switch to a fire-based EMS system this May, council members made a pledge to current MedStar employees: They would be treated as part of the Fort Worth family.

After the City Council’s May vote to dissolve longtime North Texas EMS provider MedStar and move to a fire-based system, the city began looking at how best to bring MedStar EMTs and paramedics into the fold. In order to make that happen, representatives from the city, the fire department’s union and MedStar sat down July 12 to discuss needed changes to the collective bargaining agreement that governs fire employee rights. At the top of the list: tweaking how firefighters are defined.

Fort Worth wants to improve its 911 call response times, and getting more dispatchers in the same room — and using the same technology — could be part of the solution.

Fort Worth’s EMS committee will make a recommendation on the future of emergency care in the city come April — and its decision could have ripple effects across the county.

Some inmates at Tarrant County’s jails will no longer be charged for emergency ambulance rides, after the county’s hospital district approved a reimbursement agreement with MedStar.

Fort Worth has been a part of the MedStar EMS system since 1986. But as the public utility continues to struggle with rising costs and declining reimbursements, council members are taking a closer look at alternative models.