Charlotte Fire Department to renegotiate contract with MEDIC

CHARLOTTE — We could see a shakeup in how first responders handle medical calls in Mecklenburg County.

The Charlotte Fire Department is looking to end its contract with MEDIC.

Channel 9′s Gina Esposito delves into what this means for the future.

The first responder’s contract between the Charlotte Fire Department and MEDIC has been in place for years.

It is an agreement that says the fire department will respond to EMS calls. It also dictates how much CFD gets paid for these calls.

While multiple fire departments in our area have similar contracts with MEDIC, CFD recently sent a letter expressing the desire to terminate theirs in order to renegotiate its terms.

In a statement, the department said it’s because Mecklenburg County has experienced exponential population and infrastructural growth.

This led to a “rise in emergency calls, placing additional pressure on their first responders.”

CFD also said the current agreement, while effective at the time of its inception, now requires revision to better meet the evolving needs of the community.

They said they want a new contract to achieve two primary goals: ensure fire trucks are available for true emergencies by reducing their dispatch to low-priority EMS calls and securing fair compensation for first responder services in line with the increasing demands.

Charlotte Fire Chief Reginald Johnson told Channel 9 that a major reason why they are doing this is because the department is seeing longer response times.

He said CFD responds to more than 80,000 EMS calls a year, and this has slowly led to longer response times. It has also extended the amount of time firefighters spend on the scene.

In the previous contract, MEDIC agreed to pay the Charlotte Fire Department a monthly subsidy of more than $40,000 or $480,000 annually to respond to EMS calls.

Johnson said the number could be much higher.

“We are just looking for fair compensation, realizing that we have four EMTs on a unit where we are running 80,000 calls a year. I think being fair and equitable with the services that are being currently paid in the county and the town needs to be some consideration,” Johson elaborated.

MEDIC told Channel 9 that it’s currently reviewing “CFD’s input and how those changes align with the needs of the EMS system as a whole.”

Any change must be considered by MEDIC’s board of commissioners and vetted by the agency’s medical control board.

The boards are made up of members from the county and our local hospitals.

CFD said the public should not expect any changes to the 911 system while renegotiations are happening.

However, if changes are made, MEDIC expects the board to approve them by January 2025.

VIDEO: MEDIC’s plan to change response time to 911 calls based on urgency takes effect

MEDIC’s plan to change response time to 911 calls based on urgency takes effect

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