LAKE WORTH — On Feb. 18, the Lake Worth City Council approved an interlocal agreement between the City of Lake Worth and the City of Fort Worth related to Emergency Medical Services since MedStar Mobile Healthcare has been acquired by Fort Worth.
The EMS ambulance service currently being provided by MedStar Mobile Healthcare, operated and funded as a Public Utility Model, has now transitioned under the authority of the City of Fort Worth. Fourteen current MedStar member cities have chosen to remain part of a collaborative multi-jurisdictional EMS system. The transition of EMS system responsibility to the City of Fort Worth requires dismantling of the current MedStar interlocal agreement (ILA) and establishment of new ILAs with Fort Worth.
All 14 member cities have submitted their MOUA’s which provides the City of Fort Worth full oversight and control of MedStar and the Metropolitan Area EMS Authority system. Lake Worth Fire Department Chief Ryan Arthur said this transitional process has been in the works for a couple of years now.
“This is not a final step, but a culmination of probably two-and-a-half years of work in collaboration with the City of Fort Worth on their transition and moving from MedStar to a fire departmentbased EMS system,” Arthur said. “I know we are on the right path in our collaboration with Fort Worth. It’s going to be a good service moving forward.”
Fort Worth City Council made the decision May 21, 2024, to switch MedStar to a fire-based EMS system.
Fort Worth has created an EMS Division within its fire department that will be responsible for operation of the EMS 911 ambulance system. The full transition to Fort Worth’s responsibility is scheduled for July 1, 2025.
According to the agenda packet, Lake Worth’s first funding obligation is for the last fiscal quarter of 2025 (July, Aug. and Sept.). Lake Worth’s proportionate pro rata 2025 funding obligation is $33,295 (July, August and September) and will be due on or before July 1. FY26 will be the first year of full proportionate funding with the cost based on the established unit hours consumed or UHC funding formula using the previous fiscal year’s UHC. The projected UHC for 2025 is 1,605 with Lake Worth’s projected funding obligation in 2026 based on that UHC in the amount of $165,171. There is an established process for true-up of actual cost since forecasting of UHC and budgeting is projected on the previous year’s actual UHC. Because of this, this number could be lower or higher depending on the total utilization of the EMS system.
Arthur noted the entire service area should see an improvement in service through improved response times to all calls for service, particularly critical, life-threatening emergencies when seconds matter, and through an increase in the number of ambulances deployed daily throughout the service area.
To better serve the entire EMS system, the Lake Worth Fire Department has adopted a strategic objective of enhancing its service delivery through an advancement in pre-hospital emergency medical care.
This year, the Lake Worth Fire Department will move toward Advanced Life Support capabilities to help the newly developed EMS system in collaboration with Fort Worth.
Enhancements within the department will assist personnel in providing medical care to its customers in a first response capacity. The goal of full ALS first response capability is projected to be complete July 1, 2025.
