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Johns Creek weighs ambulance options as AMR serves regional zone
Summary
Council discussed ambulance response needs after staff said AMR holds the regional license and current average response was about 10 minutes 18 seconds in 2025; staff outlined five options (CAD upgrade, signal preemption, telehealth triage, used response unit, or dedicated posted ambulance at roughly $0.5–1.0M/yr) and will prepare a memo on dedicated ambulance costs.
Staff briefed the council on emergency medical services and ambulance response in Johns Creek, emphasizing the constraints of the state‑awarded regional license and options the city can pursue to improve response times.
Staff explained that ambulance transport is a licenced, regionally allocated service and that the current authorized provider for Johns Creek's zone is AMR (American Medical Response). Staff said AMR is meeting regional service metrics, but Johns Creek—the geographic edge of the region with relatively low call volume—sees average regional response times that staff said were around 10 minutes and 18 seconds for all calls in 2025 and about 9 minutes 8 seconds for the most serious ‘echo’ calls. Staff also reported 90th percentile response for serious calls was 12 minutes and 40 seconds.
To address response concerns, staff outlined five paths: (1) support AMR’s ongoing CAD (computer‑aided dispatch) upgrade that offers new tools for routing and analytics; (2) work on traffic signal preemption interfaces so ambulances can traverse lights more quickly; (3) pursue telehealth triage to divert low‑acuity calls from ambulance dispatch; (4) explore accepting a used medical response unit from AMR for local staging (staff cautioned this creates staffing and maintenance responsibilities and has mixed results elsewhere); and (5) contract to have a dedicated ambulance posted in Johns Creek, which staff estimated could cost roughly $500,000 for 12‑hour daily coverage or about $1,000,000 for 24‑hour coverage annually. Staff said one practical middle ground is focusing on the 9AM–9PM window when most calls occur.
Council asked for clearer data and a short memo on what a posted ambulance contract would cost and deliver; staff agreed to prepare a 1–2 page memo with usage data, recommended posting windows, and cost scenarios for council review. Staff also recommended continuing to support AMR’s CAD upgrade, pursuing signal preemption interface work and evaluating telehealth as immediate, lower‑cost steps to improve net ambulance availability.
