The committee reviewing the latest bids for the city’s ambulance contract has recommended the contract be awarded to Jersey City Medical Center, city officials announced on Thursday. The release of the committee’s report comes as an apparent result of a protest by community activists on Nov. 3, who demanded the report be released early to allow more time for the public to digest its conclusions before the expected City Council vote on Nov. 12 to award the contract.
Jersey City Medical Center has been providing ambulance service to the city for over 100 years.
The new contract, which would supply basic life support ambulance service to Jersey City for three years, is already a year overdue.
The city had planned to release the information at the Nov. 10 City Council caucus meeting.
“The EMS review committee made a recommendation to award the EMS contract to the Jersey City Medical Center,” said Jennifer Morrill, spokesperson for Mayor Steven Fulop.
Once McCabe Ambulance, one of the bidders, withdrew an offer to pay the city $2 million a year to reimburse for the use of fire department first responders, its offer more closely matched one from JCMC.
“We need to take a closer look as to what is going on behind this request for proposal.” – Bruce Alston
____________
Gathering on the steps of City Hall on Nov. 3, the activists said the time between the caucus meeting and the regular council meeting did not allow enough time to fully study the committee’s recommendations.
Representatives from the South Greenville Neighborhood Association, as well as others who support awarding the contract to Jersey City Medical Center, said they needed time to look at the recommendations before the City Council votes on awarding the contract.
The council was expected to receive the recommendations at the Nov. 10 caucus meeting and possibly vote on awarding a contract at the Nov. 12 meeting.
Community activists said they wanted to look at the details as to how the contract committee made its recommendations.
The new bid proposal by JCMC, however, eliminated $4 million in annual payments from the city that had been included in the medical center’s prior contract proposal. Instead, JCMC will make its money from the patent’s insurance coverage.
A year in the making
The contract with the city has only two bidders. McCabe Ambulance is backed by CarePoint Health, who operate Bayonne Medical Center, Hoboken University Medical Center, Christ Hospital in Jersey City, and its own health system.
Last December, Mayor Steven Fulop recommended the contract be awarded to McCabe. He later withdrew the recommendation due to problems with bid specifications after JCMC said specs were altered after bidding had started.
One aspect of the change involved payment for first responding units from the city Fire Department who cover emergency calls until an ambulance arrives. McCabe offered to pay the city to cover the cost of using the Fire Department. JCMC said it would provide its own first responders. By awarding the contract to McCabe, the city stood to gain more than $2 million. JCMC argued that the provision was unfair, and that too much weight had been given by the committee to the payback in making the recommendations.
Since then, the city has reissued bid requests and the same two companies responded.
In the new request, one option would split the city in two and award a contract to each of the ambulance companies. But community activists say there is no equitable way to divide the city. If split north and south, one company would get the majority of charity and uninsured cases, while the other would get most of the insured. Split more equably, a division would lead to confusion as to which company 911 dispatchers should call, leading to confusion and possible delays.
More importantly, the split city provision was not part of the main bid, but as an option, and only one of the two companies – McCabe – bid on that proposal. Should the committee have decided to select McCabe based on the split-city provision, JCMC would likely have sued.
Activists got what they wanted
The activists said they wanted the council to retain JCMC, saying the company has a good track record of responding to emergencies, and there was no reason to change. They are also concerned about responses to various parts of the city. Greenville and other parts of south Jersey City – which have frequent calls – could be aversely affected if the ambulance company is not familiar with the street grid.
Charles Balcer, one of the activists that appeared at the Nov. 3 press event, said dividing the city would be unfair and would likely result in wealthy neighborhoods getting better service. He said JCMC should retain the service.
“The medical center is nationally recognized and has one of the top Emergency Departments in the state,” he said.
Martha Larkins, of the South Greenville Neighborhood Association, said her group is looking for transparency.
“Mayor Fulop ran for office on the issue of transparency in government and now he won’t release the recommendations by the committee,” she said. “We have a right to know.”
Frank Falcicchio, another member of the Greenville group, said the public should get the information in advance in order to look at the proposals and determine if the choice is right and how to respond. He pointed out that over the last year, JCMC has been continuing its service in Jersey City on a month to month basis as the city restarted the bidding process.
Falcicchio said the two day period between the caucus at which the report will be made public and the expected council vote is not enough time to look at what is being proposed.
April Kuzas, founder of Save Our EMS, a pro-JCMC group, organized the press conference in order to press the city for answers early. Among those looking for answers is Esther Wintner, president of Civic Jersey City, and Bruce Alston, a community activist.
Alston said the JCMC has been a good community partner through some serious disasters and should not be abandoned.
“We need to take a closer look as to what is going on behind this request for proposal,” he said.
Meanwhile, two council members – Council President Rolando Lavarro and Councilman Daniel Rivera – said they will not vote on the contract. Lavaro said he has a personal connection to someone in the CarePoint Health system, while Rivera is an employee of Barnabas Health, which is working with JCMC on patient services.
“Before that I could have voted on the contract,” Rivera said. “But once they signed an agreement, I could not.”
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.