BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Buffalo's ambulance provider, AMR, has signed a new contract with the city after operating without one since 2021, and response times are beating the benchmarks set in the agreement, says Deputy Mayor Swanekamp.
The deal was finalized under the Ryan administration in May, more than 18 months after former Fire Commissioner William Renaldo told 7 News a contract was imminent.
The contract changes come as emergency services faced a high-volume of 911 calls at the weekend, with two requests made for the city's backup ambulance service, Erie County EMS. But Deputy Mayor Benjamin Swanekamp said overall, AMR is meeting or exceeding every response time goal outlined in the new agreement.
"Overall response time is 10 minutes and 28 seconds per call. For those critical calls though the response time is at 7 minutes and two seconds. That is under the contract which is an 8 minute 59 seconds criteria," Swanekamp said.
The new contract, obtained by 7 News, also requires AMR to share more data with the city, giving officials greater oversight of the service .
"We looked at a way to get something in place right away to make sure that Buffalo Fire, who's our lead EMS agency, has eyes on the data and it has a way to see how AMR is performing for our purposes while also ensuring better service for Buffalo residents," Swanekamp explained.
One of the most significant changes involves how the city and AMR handle the financial arrangement. Under the previous contract, AMR paid the city a "franchise fee" of approximately $450,000 a year to operate. That fee has been eliminated, with the deputy mayor revealing AMR "probably loses millions" by operating in Buffalo due to the patient/payer mix "which is very heavily Medicaid," meaning reimbursements to AMR are relatively low compared to other insurance reimbursements.
WATCH: Ambulance response times shared with city under new AMR contract
In its place, AMR now funds and runs a nurse navigator program, which has been active since January. The program connects some callers with a nurse who assesses whether a patient needs to visit the ER, or can be directed to urgent care, a primary care physician, or be treated at home. And it's having an impact.
"That has decreased our calls to the hospital by over 50%," Swanekamp revealed.
AMBULANCE SERVICE AND THE CITY CHARTER
The city charter calls for an Emergency Medical Services board to meet once a month and provide reports to the Buffalo Common Council. In 2024, 7 News found that board had been defunct for years. Swanekamp told me the board is still nonexistent.
"It is a legacy of the previous system when Buffalo would have had to regulate all of the ambulance services within it independently," he said.
The new contract was not submitted to the Buffalo Common Council for their discussion or approval. The deputy mayor told me that's because it is a no fee license agreement. I also found no mention of required council approval in the Ambulance Services section of the city charter.
