Contract renewal suggested

LAFAYETTE — A city-parish advisory board has recommended continuing a contract that gives Acadian Ambulance exclusive rights to serve Lafayette and raises the limit for automatic rate increases from 3 percent a year to 6 percent a year.

The city’s current contract with Acadian Ambulance, of Lafayette, was approved in 2003 and expires in March.

The proposed contract renewal is scheduled to be introduced at Tuesday’s meeting of the City-Parish Council, with a final vote set for Feb. 28.

The city-parish Emergency Medical Service Advisory Board, which monitors the ambulance contract, recommended the renewal and the new 6 percent cap for annual rate increases.

EMS Advisory Board Chairman Andre Fruge said allowing an annual rate increase of up to 6 percent is in line with regional trends and with Acadian’s rising expenses.

The proposed contract also includes requirements for ambulance response times and requires that Acadian’s rates in Lafayette be on a par with those charged in other areas of the state.

“We wanted to make sure that Lafayette was going to get a combination of the best available ambulance care and the best available rates,” Fruge said.

The actual effect of any rate increase on customers is difficult to know, because 86 percent of the users of ambulance services in Lafayette are covered by private or government insurers that negotiate their own rates with Acadian, Fruge said.

Under the proposed contract, Acadian could exceed the annual 6 percent rate cap, but only with the approval of the EMS Advisory Board and the City-Parish Council.

Acadian asked for and received approval to exceed the 3 percent annual rate increase in 2007, when the council authorized a 12 percent increase.