Sacramento auditor issues recommendations to improve city's ambulance response

There's new scrutiny for the Sacramento Fire Department after a city audit showed there's room for improvement when it comes to ambulance response.

"We kind of looked at the different pieces of response time to see if there were ways that we could shorten that," Sacramento City Auditor Farishta Ahrary said.

Ahrary said her office spent more than a year looking at ways to improve ambulance response in Sacramento. 

Now she's issuing 11 different recommendations, and at the top of the list is changing the response to medical calls that aren't real emergencies.

"We identified that there are some alternative responses that the fire department could implement and provide instead of sending an ambulance," Ahrary said.

Her research shows it costs more than $200 to dispatch an ambulance, but calling a cab or rideshare is only about $50.

"We could potentially use an Uber to get the individual to a doctor's appointment or something that still addresses the need that they have," Ahrary said.

The audit also looks at how long it takes to respond. National standards give crews 60 seconds between the alarm going off and driving away in the ambulance.

But that goal is achieved less than 30% of the time during the overnight hours when medics may be sleeping at the fire station.

"Sixty seconds could be between life of death for somebody," Ahrary said.

Auditors also found more than 40 cases of employees with expired medical credentials.

Sacramento fire officials would not comment on camera, but in a letter to the city auditor, the department said it agreed with all recommendations.

New paramedics will now work 12-hour shifts, which reduces the need to sleep on the job. New technology is being used to track certifications and alternative responses to non-emergency calls are being considered.

"They're not waiting, they are already working on these," Ahrary said.

The audit's findings will be presented to Sacramento city leaders next week and the auditor said she will follow up in six months to see what recommendations have and have not been adopted.