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La Habra Heights switches EMS continuing-education vendor to EMS QI Partners to save money and expand training
Summary
Council approved replacing a UCLA continuing-education subscription with EMS QI Partners, increasing monthly training hours while reducing annual costs by roughly $5,000 and conditioning final approval on verifying insurance parity and removing a template contractual sentence.
La Habra Heights City Council voted Dec. 9 to authorize a new agreement for EMS continuing-education services that staff said will provide more training hours at lower net cost.
Fire department leaders told the council the city had paid a monthly subscription to UCLA for EMT and paramedic continuing education but that UCLA raised its price sharply this year. Fire Chief Al Alcalde said the UCLA arrangement previously provided about four hours of monthly continuing education; the proposed replacement, EMS QI Partners, offers 12 hours per month and an annual price that staff said will save the city roughly $5,000 compared with UCLA's new fee.
Chief Alcalde told the council the vendor change was identified by the department's paramedic coordinator after an unannounced price increase from the prior contractor. "This increase ... represents a 42% increase on what we were paying before," the chief said, explaining the impetus to seek alternatives.
Council members supported switching vendors but asked staff to strike a redundant template sentence in the contract that could cause confusion and to verify that insurance coverage under EMS QI Partners equals or exceeds what the city had under UCLA. Councilmember comments and staff recommendations were included as conditions in the final motion authorizing the agreement.
What's next: Staff will finalize the contract with EMS QI Partners, remove the specified template clause, confirm insurance coverage, and return the approved agreement for execution. Staff told council the initial annual cost under EMS QI Partners will be approximately $29,000 with a 5% annual increase thereafter.
