The flashing lights and sirens will reverberate from Rural/Metro
ambulances and not the conspicuous American Medical Response
emergency vehicles after the Santa Clara County Board of
Supervisors approved a five-year contract this afternoon in a
franchise agreement with Rural/Metro as the exclusive provider of
ambulance service in the county.
SAN JOSE – The flashing lights and sirens will reverberate from Rural/Metro ambulances and not the conspicuous American Medical Response emergency vehicles after the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors approved a five-year contract this afternoon in a franchise agreement with Rural/Metro as the exclusive provider of ambulance service in the county.
The decision, a 3-2 vote with Supervisor Dave Cortese, Supervisor George Shirakawa, and newly elected Supervisor Mike Wasserman supporting the contract, follows a two-and-a-half year process.
The move to choose Rural/Metro over the county’s previous provider American Medical Response upset AMR employees who considered the change a snub after more than 70 years of service in Santa Clara County.
In October, the board of supervisors voted to begin negotiations with Rural/Metro and drop the AMR contract. The savings was estimated at more than 12 percent for a five-year agreement worth about $375 million.
AMR has been the county’s ambulance provider since 1979, but has provided services in some form for more than 70 years in Santa Clara County. A 10-year contract with AMR was last renewed with in 2001. It will expire in December.
Rural/Metro, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., has said that if it won the Santa Clara County contract, it would “likely hire many of the AMR employees,” to stay within the request of the county’s proposal.
Former District 1 Supervisor Don Gage, who cast the deciding vote to move forward with the Rural/Metro contract in October, said he felt the company can do an equitable job.
“I’ve come to the conclusion that Rural/Metro can do the job and provide the same quality of service to our constituents,” Gage said.
Rural/Metro is the second largest ambulance service provider in the nation, according to the Arizona Republic newspaper, which has also reported that in 2005 Rural/Metro’s own hometown of Scottsdale parted ways contractually after “a contentious debate about fire services.”
Among concerns, is the potential loss of jobs by AMR staff, which employs more than 450 full-time and part-time paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians.
The decision to switch companies sparked a money brawl between the two major powers in Santa Clara County: The city of San Jose and the county government. While AMR was planning to reimburse the cities for their paramedic services, Rural/Metro will not.
San Jose city officials said the changes will be bad for all cities in Santa Clara County, including Morgan Hill and Gilroy.
According to an Oct. 18 letter sent by San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, changing gears on ambulance services will cost cities $33 million during the next five years.
“In the majority of cases, cities provide the first line of defense for emergency response,” stated Reed. “As a result, we subsidize (Emergency Medical Services) and allow leaner staffing structure on the side of the emergency service/ambulance provider.”
But the issue for supervisors, including Gage, is the cost to those who need ambulance service.
According to Gage, AMR’s prices had become untenable. The firm proposed raising prices from $35 a mile to $90 a mile for patients, he said.
“It’s more than double,” Gage said. “And that’s a big deal. You’re paying that even if you have insurance. We have to look at it from a business point of view: If somebody else can do a good job for a lower price, I’d go with them.”
Rural/Metro has agreed to keep the cost for patients at $35 per mile.
That’s more important than reimbursements, says Gage, adding the county does not favor reimbursements of this kind.
California requires counties with an “exclusive operating area” for ambulance services, such as Santa Clara County, to look at competitive Request for Proposals about every 10 years. The credentials of Rural/Metro and AMR – the existing provider – were screened “to ensure that they met baseline criteria including financial viability and operational capacity to serve the population.” The company received the top rating by an independent eight-member RFP committee and was recommended to the board over AMR.
