A news report from FOX6 Milwaukee examined response times for private ambulances and the system by which EMS services are dispatched in the city.
Milwaukee Fire Department Assistant Chief Joshua Parish spoke to reporters about the process by which 911 dispatchers evaluate calls. If a medical call is considered non-life-threatening, it’s called a “lower acuity” call, which may result in the dispatch of a private ambulance running without lights and sirens.
A recent policy change in the city has doubled the amount of time allowed for private ambulances to respond to so-called “lower acuity” calls from 30 minutes to an hour.