American Medical Response filed a lawsuit against the Santa Barbara County on Thursday after the Board of Supervisors awarded ambulance services permits to the county Fire Department.
AMR, the county’s current provider, and the county Fire Department both applied for permits for 9-1-1 emergency medical response and ambulance transport, and the county Fire Department also applied for interfacility transfer and critical care transport permits from the county.
Last week, the Board of Supervisors voted to approve all three of County Fire’s permit applications and deny AMR’s, meaning the company will stop providing the services when its current contract ends next February.
AMR’s lawsuit alleges the county violated state emergency medical services law with its new permit-based ambulance services system, and names as defendants the county, the Board of Supervisors, the Public Health Department and the county Fire Department.
The county switched from a bidding process for an exclusive ambulance services contract to this non-exclusive, permit-based system this year, after the proposals from AMR and County Fire had been reviewed and ranked (with AMR’s higher).
“Because the county and the Fire Department were unsatisfied with the outcome of the competitive (request-for-proposals) process, they discarded it with a clear agenda – to award a sole operating permit to the Fire Department,” AMR vice president of operations Michael Rice said in a statement.
The civil complaint was filed in Superior Court Thursday, according to AMR, which shared a copy of the document with Noozhawk.
It asks the court to set aside the Board of Supervisors’ “prejudicial abuses of discretion” and permit denial.
“The Board of Supervisors wrongly found that AMR could not or would not provide ambulance service to the entire county territory, that it would not share 9-1-1 emergency ambulance calls with County Fire, or that AMR had not provided sufficient evidence of a ‘community benefit,’” the complaint alleges.
AMR says its initial proposal last year scored higher than County Fire’s in the category of system integration and innovation, and the supervisors “wrongly” found its latest permit application lacking in those areas.
“AMR will suffer irreparable injury from the denial of its permit in that it will be forced to discontinue providing ambulance service on March 1, 2024, despite its more than 40 years of continuous service preceding the permit denial,” the lawsuit claims.
Public Health and Emergency Medical Services Agency staff reviewed both applications and found them qualified for permits, but did not make recommendations on which providers the supervisors should approve.
At last week’s hearing, the supervisors voiced concerns about having two providers for 9-1-1 emergency medical response and ambulance transport, and said County Fire had a stronger application for the job.
Supervisor Bob Nelson said he thought AMR’s application was incomplete and “failed to address integration, service to rural areas, community benefit and paramedicine.”
The supervisors voted 5-0 to approve County Fire’s permits, and 4-1 to deny AMR’s permit application. Supervisor Steve Lavagnino dissented because he was concerned about legal liability in denying a qualified applicant’s permit.
Local fire chiefs and public officials have openly supported County Fire’s bid to get the ambulance services contract.
The lawsuit was filed by attorneys Derek Cole and Tyler Sherman of Cole Huber LLC for American Medical Response West.