A couple of weeks ago, the Board of Supervisors unanimously chose to award a 10-year ambulance services contract to the County Fire Department.
Government watchers weren’t surprised because the county had previously procured 35 new ambulances in anticipation that the Fire Department would prevail in the competition.
In response, American Medical Response (AMR), the provider chosen during the first open competition by the Santa Barbara County Emergency Medical Services Agency filed a formal protest contesting the award the following day.
This is not an uncommon response by companies that lose an important contract; in this case AMR had been the provider since 1980.
According to the Santa Barbara County Emergency Medical Services Agency website, they are responsible for emergency medical management “system guidance and oversight through prehospital provider-driven policy development and a comprehensive quality improvement program. To protect and improve the health and safety of the people in Santa Barbara County through the provision of high-quality emergency and disaster medical services, through reasonable costs, community involvement, continuous evaluation, prevention programs, and anticipatory planning.”
According to a letter from the Santa Barbara County Health Department to the state Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) back in January of this year: “The Santa Barbara County EMS Agency (SBCEMSA) began the competitive process to select an exclusive ambulance provider as outlined in Health and Safety Code 1797.224. As of the time of this letter, the process is still ongoing.”
In part the Health and Safety Code specifies: “Each county developing such a program shall designate a local EMS agency which shall be the county health department, an agency established and operated by the county, an entity with which the county contracts for the purposes of local emergency medical services administration.”
Noozhawk reported that Sean Russell of Global Medical Response, AMR’s parent company said: “The board has effectively given the Fire District an exclusive right to provide ambulance service when it did not have the authority to do so,” in last week’s statement.
AMR also filed a civil lawsuit against the Board of Supervisors and various county officials.
The SBCEMSA website explains that the EMS system is divided into three service areas: Zone 1 serves 93 percent of the population county wide and zones 2 and 3 serve the Lompoc Valley and Cuyama.
“American Medical Response of Santa Barbara County, [has been] serving Service Area 1 since 1980. American Medical Response and the Santa Barbara County Fire Department are the primary ambulance services in Zone 2. Both agencies are under contract with the Santa Barbara County EMS Agency. Santa Barbara County Fire Department has provided BLS (basic life support) ambulance service in Service Area 3 since 1974 increasing to ALS [advanced life support] ambulance service in 1992.”
In short, the EMSA is the technical authority when it comes to the delivery of emergency medical transportation, a.k.a. “ambulance services.” And when they had an independent firm evaluate the original response to their RFP, they chose AMR.
So, you see this is a rather complicated system that has been historically managed through the issuance of contracts by the SBCEMSA until the recent decisions to usurp their authority by the BOS.
According to press reports, the 10-year contract is worth an estimated $1 billion, so you can see why AMR would contest the award. And, you can see why the Fire Department wanted to add this, along with the 200-plus staff increase to their area of responsibility.
The new contract is supposed to start in six months on March 1. Considering that so far this has consisted of some politicians with no experience in delivering emergency medical care usurping the authority of the agency responsible for this task, there is no telling what will happen at this point.
I hope the Yo-Yo of decision-making for this critical service will have the string yanked for its last spin soon. Our county needs political leadership that will stay in their lane when it comes to managing emergency medical care.
References:
https://www.countyofsb.org/2024/EMS-Agency
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=HSC&division=2.5.&title=&part=&chapter=4.&article=1 Santa Barbara County Fire Beats out AMR for Countywide Ambulance Service Contract — The Santa Barbara Independent.
Then, inevitable result of the BOS decision: AMR Contests Awarding of $1B Ambulance Service Contract to Santa Barbara County Fire — The Santa Barbara Independent.
AMR Accuses County of Violating State Law By Denying Its Ambulance Services Permit, Approving County Fire’s | Local News | Noozhawk.
AMR Sues Santa Barbara County Over Ambulance Service Permits | Local News | Noozhawk.
