Patients won’t have to wait as long for an ambulance, and the ride will be in newer and better-equipped vehicles under a new contract with longtime ambulance provider American Medical Response approved by a government panel Friday.

Greenwood Village-based AMR, the only bidder for the five-year deal, will step up service to comply with stricter standards imposed by the Emergency Services Agency.

“We have an excellent product,” said Jim Reid, ESA chairman, a panel of medical and government officials which oversees the contract. “The negotiations were somewhat tough, but we did well.”

AMR has had the contract for 11 years – the original 10-year deal, plus an additional year as the new contract went through the selection process.

The agreement, which begins Jan. 1 and carries five, one-year renewal options, calls for AMR to meet compliance standards 92 percent of the time countywide.

It’s a new standard. The previous contract didn’t have a countywide standard, but rather imposed compliance requirements in various zones

AMR’s Colorado Springs manager Ted Sayer said the standard is challenging but not unreachable. In fact, the company has met or exceeded the requirement in 11 of the past 12 months in El Paso County.

“We prefer to do 100 percent,” Sayer said. “It will push us a little bit.”

Under the contract, AMR will get a rate increase of less than 1 percent, an increase of $5.61 on average per patient transport, Sayer said. The company was entitled to a cost-of-living increase this year but didn’t seek one.

Other provisions:

• AMR will add a 24-hour ambulance station at St. Francis Medical Center, Woodmen Road and Powers Boulevard.

It operates 24-hour stations on Baptist Road and in Falcon and Fountain.

• More and better equipment will be added. New ambulances will be the box-style instead of van-style, Sayer said, giving caregivers more room and featuring more safety components. Ambulances will be equipped with hydraulic lifts capable of handling 700 pounds.

In addition, ambulances must be replaced sooner. Instead of running for 250,000 miles, they’ll be replaced after 165,000 miles.

• Instead of 17 ambulances at full deployment, AMR will run 19 at full deployment plus two paramedic “fly cars” to augment response times throughout the service area. AMR will add 16 employees to satisfy the contract requirements.

• Response times remain the same for the urban zone, which includes Colorado Springs, eight to 12 minutes. But the zone expands to include the Powers corridor out east and Stratmoor Hills on the south.

Areas around Falcon also will see response times shortened.

Suburban areas, a belt around the city, will continue with 12 to 18 minutes; and rural points further east and north along Interstate 25 will have a time of 20 to 30 minutes.

Other less populated parts of the county will have response-time requirements up to 55 minutes.

• Penalties will be stiffer. Rarely was AMR hit with a penalty exceeding $1,000 per contract failure, such as a slow response time. The new contract calls for fines of $2,000 to $10,000.

• AMR will take over the public access defibrillator program, providing maintenance, replacement and training.

Sayer said despite the increased demands, AMR is glad to continue its relationship with El Paso County in a profitable arrangement.

“I’m proud of the system, and I’m really excited about where we’re going with it,” he said. “It was one of the best in the nation. Now it’s even better.”

A copy of the contract is available at www.esaboard.org, as is AMR’s proposal, which contains maps and other details of the new agreement.

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