New Orleans EMS Average Response Time is 17 Minutes

New Orleans EMS is failing to respond quickly to emergencies as chronic understaffing driven by low pay forces the city to lean heavily on private ambulance companies, the Office of the Inspector General said in a new report.

In 71% of cases, the agency missed national benchmarks as average response times climbed to 17 minutes and 45 seconds — nearly double the recommended nine minutes, according to the report released Thursday.

Even in the most critical calls, classified as “cardiac arrest/imminent death," the average response time was 10 minutes and 40 seconds. Historically, NOEMS has struggled to respond to critical calls within nine minutes. In 2024, 30% of those calls took longer than 12 minutes. In 2023, that figure was 26%, and in 2022 it was 40%, according to the city’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.

Geographic disparities also plague the agency's response times, and outer areas of New Orleans East experience the longest delays.

In the 70129 zip code — covering Lake Catherine and the Viavant-Venetian Isles — residents waited an average of 26 minutes for an ambulance, the longest in the city.

By contrast, in the Central Business District’s 70112 zip code, home to University Medical Center and Tulane University Medical Center, response times were the shortest, averaging 13 minutes.

The East has also historically seen the longest NOPD 911 response times, with current wait times sitting at around 150 minutes, according to the New Orleans Public Safety Dashboard.

The OIG also found that NOEMS failed to formally document its own response-time goals.

The 36-page report details an audit that spans October 2023 through September 2024 and reviews 73,661 incidents. Of those, 33,001 were classified as advanced life support emergencies, such as heart attacks and strokes.

Low staffing persists

NOEMS staffed about 17 ambulances per day — well below the roughly 26 units needed to meet industry standards based on call volume.

"These challenges are not new. Like EMS systems nationwide, we continue to face workforce shortages, rising call volumes, and limited resources," NOEMS chief Bill Salmeron said in a statement last week. "That said, delivering timely, high-quality care to residents and visitors remains our top priority."

Salmeron said the agency is budgeted for 174 personnel but is only about 60% staffed. Given the city's size and call volume, he believes the service needs 250 staffers.

"Our research indicates that we remain well below regional pay rates for all uniformed positions," Salmeron wrote in a Monday response to the OIG's report. "Without meaningful adjustments to pay scales, we will continue to face challenges in both attracting new candidates and retaining our experienced workforce."

Last year, former Mayor LaToya Cantrell's administration recommended hiring 50 medics and bumping up New Orleans EMS salaries. The city’s budget crisis prevented that from happening.

Reliance on private providers

In addition to speeding up response times, a larger staff could also generate revenue for the city, allowing NOEMS to handle more calls instead of outsourcing them to private ambulance companies, a city memorandum said in 2025.

Private providers handled about 30% of emergency calls last year and collected more than $8.7 million in patient service fees, according to the OIG — money that would otherwise have gone into city coffers.

"Given the city’s ongoing budget deficit, it is especially important that personnel and operational changes to improve emergency response time reflect both fiscal responsibility and long-term sustainability," Inspector General Ed Michel said in a statement.

The city's paramedics make $27.84 per hour and get a $4,500 retention bonus. Acadian Ambulance paramedics make $28-$32 an hour and get a $14,500 retention bonus, according to the 2025 memo. Salary adjustments would be a "reasonable step toward workforce stability," the memo states.

The OIG recommended that city leaders revisit those proposals, and that leaders of NOEMS "fully agree" with that and other recommendations.

"We are working with the CAO on a plan for raises and more staff," Salmeron said in a Thursday statement. "Hopefully, we can move it through Civil Service next."

Seven staffers should be joining upon completing the academy, and Salmeron says NOEMS plans to hire 10 personnel per quarter. Mayor Helena Moreno’s administration is also fast-tracking solutions.

Isis Casanova, the city's communications director, said Moreno's administration is working with the Louisiana Legislative Auditor "to solve this problem by stabilizing our budget and prioritizing public safety hiring. We’re working with urgency to get it done.”

© 2026 The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate. Visit www.nola.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.