The Austin-Travis County EMS Department is the primary provider for medical rescue within the City of Austin and Travis County. The Department is jointly funded by the City of Austin (70%) and Travis County (30%). The City of Austin is the managing partner of this funding consortium. A/TCEMS is supported in its operation by 18 first response agencies and 16 corporate first response teams. The department has a staff of 379, a budget of $27,815,000 and collected revenue for direct services of $17.7 million last year. Medical Direction is through a full-time EMS physician who oversees the Austin-Travis County EMS System clinical alliance consisting of 38 different emergency service agencies [Click for Medical Directors web site]. The Medical Director is the system's designated medical coordinator for all EMS and First Responder activities within the City of Austin and Travis County.

The department was created by municipal ordinance in 1975 to provide the citizens of Austin a reliable and quality service for emergency pre-hospital medical rescue. It operates under a third service public safety model, separate from fire and police. The third service delivery model was selected for Austin after an extensive review by several blue ribbon citizen groups. Unique from its inception, the City of Austin's EMS Department remains one of the few municipally operated third service EMS systems in the country.

The City of Austin EMS Department expanded its services to include all of Travis County (approximately 1,100 square miles) under an Interlocal Governmental Agreement beginning May of 1977. After an exhaustive assessment by A/TCEMS System stakeholders (1998-2001) regarding which government should host the A/TCEMS Department, it was recommended that the City of Austin continue in its current role as the managing entity for A/TCEMS. Under an expanded interlocal governmental agreement, Travis County formally transferred all of its EMS related administrative duties to the City of Austin EMS Department to streamline operations and minimize duplications in administrative process. However, Travis County retained legal and funding responsibilities for the aviations section of the A/TCEMS Departments Air Operations section (STARFlight). Day to day operational management is the responsibility of the City of Austin, however, STARFlight pilots, mechanics and helicopter operational costs remain under the direct control of Travis County.

There were 80,285 EMS responses in fiscal year 2003.

EMS anticipates 81,000 responses in fiscal year 2004.