Despite opposition, York County authorizes adding Atrium ambulance service
Atrium Health will be allowed to run ambulances in York County, joining Piedmont Medical Center in an arrangement aimed at improving emergency service for patients.
York County Council voted 5-2 Monday night to reassign the ambulance coverage of nonprofit Fort Mill EMS to a new entity called Atrium Hospital Fort Mill EMS.
The county decision is the latest in years of wrangling between Atrium and Piedmont over serving York County patients, much of it related to the hospital Piedmont opened in Fort Mill three years ago.
Charlotte-based Atrium, one of the biggest health care systems in the country, intends to take over the Fort Mill ambulance service founded more than 70 years ago. “There’s opportunities for expanding, adding on new ambulances for both organizations,” said York County Councilman Tom Audette.
The reassignment will require the Atrium-led Fort Mill EMS group to negotiate a new contract with York County. The EMS service will have response times and other medical standards to meet.
York County doesn’t pay for ambulance services, but assigns coverage since the county runs its own 911 system.
For decades those assignments have been to Piedmont, based in York County, or to nonprofits like Fort Mill EMS or River Hills/Lake Wylie EMS. Adding Atrium will bring competition and, according to some council members, better opportunities for patients.
“To me, the county ought to want as many free ambulances as we can get in the county,” said Chairwoman Christi Cox.
What do Atrium ambulances mean for York County patients?
When an emergency call comes in, a 911 dispatcher sends the closest ambulance. If the patient is incapacitated, the ambulance transports that person to the closest medical facility to handle the situation. Otherwise, the patient gets to choose which hospital to use.
Fort Mill EMS took more than 4,100 calls last year. Piedmont took about eight times that many.
Of the Fort Mill EMS transports, almost 60% went to a Piedmont facility and the rest went to an Atrium one, said Councilman Watts Huckabee. “It was the decision of the individual in the ambulance,” he said. “So really, the name on the ambulance doesn’t matter.”
Huckabee voted against allowing Atrium ambulances because having one provider seems more efficient, he said. Teresa Urquhart, market CEO for Piedmont, asked council last month to allow her company to take over the Fort Mill EMS coverage stake if the nonprofit no longer wanted it.
Councilman William “Bump” Roddey voted against allowing Atrium, due in part to the more than 40 years of medical and public service Piedmont has provided in York County.
“I do respect the fact that Piedmont has been around, (has been a) major contributor to our local economy, provide jobs, provide resources, huge tax base for us,” Roddey said. “That means something to me.”
Roddey uses Atrium physicians and facilities, he said, and his vote wasn’t personal. It also wasn’t against Atrium, he said. It was for Piedmont.
“My vote is still with Piedmont,” Roddey said, “and my doctors are still with Atrium.”
Fort Mill growth may need Atrium and Piedmont
Fort Mill’s location tucked up against the North Carolina state line plays a role in medical decisions. Depending on the location of an emergency, the closest hospital may be in Rock Hill or Charlotte. It’s a similar story in other high-growth parts of York County, like Lake Wylie and Tega Cay.
The more than 300,000 residents in York County as of last summer is up 7.4% from the 2020 Census, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates. Transportation planners, school officials and other public agencies project continued growth in the next decade.
That growth, county officials say, will mean more ambulances are needed, too.
“There’s an opportunity here to continue on with the outstanding job that Fort Mill EMS has done, and to bring in I guess a new era as we move forward,” Audette said.
Councilwoman Debi Cloninger spoke with hundreds of people and invited homeowner associations to email blast her with comments, she said, before rendering an ambulance decision. There’s an appetite, she said, for something new.
“Overwhelmingly,” Cloninger said, “the support was for Atrium.”
Fort Mill EMS needs help to keep up with service calls
Ray Bleau has been with Fort Mill EMS for 21 years. He’s been assistant director, supervisor, staffing coordinator for trucks — all as a volunteer.
Despite a full-time job with a investment company prior to his recent retirement, Bleau has run weekly 12-hour shifts each Thursday night. When he schedules trucks he’s on call 24/7. On Monday he got a call before 6 a.m. and had to match trucks with staff.
“I can’t continue doing this nonstop,” he told council Monday night.
Fort Mill EMS pays its crews, but it hasn’t been competitive in salary with other medical providers, Bleau said. Atrium’s presence will bring benefits and career opportunities for Fort Mill EMS staff that they haven’t had.
“It’s something that’s not only going to help our employees, but it’s going to help York County as well,” Bleau said.
More than 7,500 Atrium employees live in York County. That number includes Jonathan Collier, vice president of mobile medicine, who lives in Fort Mill. It also includes doctors and nurses.
Adding Atrium to the ambulance mix in York County will reduce response times and improve turnaround times for serving patients, said Atrium Health Pineville Vice President Alicia Campbell.
“We have every intention of honoring that tradition,” she said of Fort Mill EMS, “building on it and making it better.”
Atrium facilities in North Carolina already get patients from Piedmont, Fort Mill EMS and River Hills ambulances, she said. The only change is a more direct role in getting some of them there.
For supporters of adding Atrium into York County’s ambulance service, it isn’t about competing hospital groups.
“It’s more about York County,” Bleau said. “It’s more about services. It’s more about keeping trucks there, and the competition is going to be a good thing.”
