Florida Panel Says No to Firefighter Victim Transport

[croaker260]

yes, that is a poorly written headline.

I thought pretty much all of FL was fire based ems? Or am I mistaken?

Actually, SUNSTAR EMS is a "Public Utility Mudel" (PUM) similar in theory (if not application) to MAST.

Simply put there is a GOVERMENT OVERSIGHT of a PRIVATE COMPANY with a contract awarded every so often.

No, this is NOT what AMR and others do in California and other places where Privates do 911 work by contract, the oversight is MUCH MUCH more aggressive.

And this is different from a 3rd service model, and obviously different from the fire bsed model, and is not exaclty the same as a pure private model.

Sunstar has been held up as one of the PUMs done right.

Our agency has traveled to there and looked at some of their effeciencies (there are many) for our own service. Obviously there are issues with every service, and SUNSTAR is no exception, but they do have a lot going for them.

Not saying its a bad thing at all. But is different, and politically and administratively intensive.

[VentMedic]

Here's a little more detail about Pinellas County and the proposals.

http://www.pinellascounty.org/EMS/default.htm

Pinellas County maintains EMS contracts with 19 fire service agencies, and one ambulance provider (Paramedic Plus, operating in Pinellas County under the trade name “Sunstar”).