Hartford Healthcare EMS chief says American Ambulance branch near St. Vincent’s would reduce transfer delays; intervenor presses on staffing and contracts

Charles Jondro, system chief of emergency medical services for the Hartford Healthcare EMS network, testified June 17 before a Department of Public Health hearing officer that American Ambulance Service, Inc.'s application (docket 26-011) to open a Bridgeport branch near St. Vincent's Medical Center would shorten response times for interfacility transfers and improve patient outcomes.

"By placing an additional branch location in the immediate vicinity of St. Vincent's, we can dramatically reduce response times for non-emergency and critical care transfers," Jondro said in his opening statement, adding that timely transfers "improve health outcomes" and can reduce emergency department boarding.

The hearing officer took administrative notice of two reports—the Connecticut General Assembly report to the Public Health & Human Services Committee and the Connecticut Public Health 2024 Office of Emergency Medical Services annual report—and admitted three applicant exhibits (the application, the pre-hearing submission and a supplemental pre-hearing submission) after denying a motion to strike portions of the application.

Applicant counsel Jesse Langanger read four stipulations agreed with intervenor counsel into the record, including an agreed non-contract AMR rate of $1,234 plus $365.75 for mileage "since July 1, 2025" for certain interfacility transfers, that AMR's 2021 contract with St. Vincent's did not include an interfacility-transfer performance metric, and that AMR's 2019 contract included a 90% overall performance metric for interfacility transfers. Counsel confirmed the parties may testify about on-contract and off-contract services.

Intervenor counsel Michael Kurs repeatedly pressed Jondro about the factual basis for his reliability and timeliness claims. Kurs asked whether Jondro participated in preparing the application and whether American Ambulance planned to move ambulances from other regions to staff the Bridgeport base. Jondro said he participated in identifying affected EMS regions and in coordinating clinically but that operational decisions (including the director of operations and budgeting) were handled by American Ambulance management.

Kurs sought documents and metrics showing comparative performance and timeliness between providers. Jondro said Hartford Healthcare and American Ambulance track "priority one" (highest-acuity) transfer response times and that the highest-priority metrics are available, but he acknowledged less consistent public documentation for non-priority transfers. "We do track priority one responses. I'm very familiar with that metric," Jondro said on cross-examination.

Kurs also questioned whether ambulances described in the application were currently in service. Jondro testified that American Ambulance holds 29 ambulance licenses and that some licensed vehicles are not in service; he said the application did not seek additional licenses and that the three ambulances referenced in a supplemental filing are licensed vehicles not presently in active service.

The intervenor challenged the applicant's operational and financial assumptions. The application includes an operational cost estimate of roughly $2.4 million per year for the proposed Bridgeport base, and Jondro said he was not personally involved in the financial modeling. He described the branch as "an additive resource" that would allow other providers to concentrate on 911 work while American Ambulance focused on interfacility transfers.

Counsel also debated whether ambulance availability is the primary driver of emergency department boarding. Jondro said transport delays are an "important factor" and that "minutes make a difference in the patient's outcome" for critically ill patients, but he declined to assert that transport availability is always the primary cause of boarding, pointing to multiple contributing factors including discharge readiness and family/transport arrangements.

The hearing officer overruled a request to preclude the late-filed supplemental submission but granted the parties' request to schedule another day for the applicant's witness who filed the late supplement to be examined and cross-examined. The hearing recessed until 11:00 a.m.

What happened next: the record will include the admitted exhibits, the stipulations read into the record, and additional testimony when the applicant's witness returns for cross-examination on the supplemental submission.

Details and next steps: the Department of Public Health will continue the hearing schedule to allow questioning of Mr. Sheetinger (the applicant's supplemental-witness) on the late-filed material; no final decision on the application was announced at the June 17 session.