Baltimore's spending panel approved a restructuring plan Wednesday to better staff the city's paramedic units and bring down overtime costs.
Under the plan, the Fire Department will restructure positions to create a new two-tier response system to better staff peak demand times. The five-member Board of Estimates unanimously approved the plan without discussion.
The new schedule will shuffle the number and make up of medic units to provide enough staff to adequately cover all shifts, especially during peak hours between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.
Paramedic units have been chronically understaffed for years, which has led to an increase in overtime payouts. Last year, two dozen paramedics made a combined $1.9 million in overtime.
The restructuring plan will allow the Fire Department to hire about 50 new paramedics, said Chief Jeffrey Segal. That will give the city about 280 paramedics.
The department also will add about a dozen ambulances during peak hours for a total of 36. There are 24 units available during non-peak hours, he said.
"The goal is to decrease the response time to medical calls," he said.
City officials said that because the plan will result in a significant reduction in overtime, it would wind up costing only about $35,000 a year.
More than 65 percent of the 134,000 medical emergency calls during fiscal year 2013 were made during peak hours, Segal said.
In the past, firefighters with medical training would often help cover holes in the paramedic schedule. But fewer of them have been available since a new contract went into effect about a year ago. The contract requires firefighters to work more hours each week in exchange for a pay raise.
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