San Diego will switch ambulance providers, leaving AMR

[California Red 11]

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/san-diego/story/2019-12-03/san-diego-plans-to-switch-ambulance-providers-for-first-time-since-1997

 

Switching from AMR to Danish-based Falck comes after disputes with AMR over response times, staffing levels and fines

By DAVID GARRICK

DEC. 3, 2019

 

5 AM

SAN DIEGO —  

San Diego officials said Monday they plan to switch the city’s ambulance provider for the first time in more than two decades.

Fire-Rescue Chief Colin Stowell said the city has decided to engage in exclusive contract negotiations with Falck, a Danish-owned company that provides ambulance services in nine U.S. states including California.

City officials chose Falck over the city’s existing ambulance provider, American Medical Response, based on how the two companies responded to a 73-page “request for proposals” issued by the city in August.

The decision to switch comes after a series of disputes between AMR and city officials over response times, staffing levels and fines levied on the company for not meeting city goals.

Edited December 5, 2019 by California Red

[RicardoBerg 8]

1. I think that San Diego Fire Department should provide their own ambulance service as other Fire Departments do.

[Rescue51 44]

Hello RicardoBerg, I always thought too what you propose, but many departments do not operate their own boxes, LA County being one.  Even Heartland Fire-Rescue (El Cajon specifically) stopped running their own medic rigs in favor of giving AMR a contract for the medic boxes.  Take care...  ~Rescue51

[California Red 11]

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2021-01-25/san-diego-closer-to-switching-ambulance-providers-after-city-rejects-protest-by-incumbent-amr

New provider, Falck, would increase ambulance service 20 percent; public hearing slated Feb. 10

By DAVID GARRICK

JAN. 25, 2021

1:39 PM

SAN DIEGO —  

San Diego’s plan to switch ambulance providers took a key step forward Monday when the city rejected an appeal by incumbent provider American Medical Response, paving the way for rival Falck USA to take over later this year.

Falck, a Danish company that operates ambulances in Northern and Southern California, will boost ambulance coverage in San Diego by more than 20 percent compared to what AMR has been providing, city documents say.

San Diego’s efforts to find a new ambulance provider come after years of complaints about service levels and response times, particularly in ethnically diverse areas south of state Route 94.

With AMR’s appeal now formally rejected and dismissed, the City Council’s public safety committee has scheduled a Feb. 10 public hearing on the Falck proposal, which could receive final approval from the full council a few weeks afterward.

 

City officials negotiated and signed a formal contract with Falck in September, several weeks after choosing Falck over AMR based on responses from both providers to an April “request for proposals.”

AMR could still file a lawsuit seeking to block the switch to Falck. On Monday, an AMR spokesman said company officials were “assessing all of our options.”

Edited January 28, 2021 by California Red

[e5911 23]

San diego has had a hybrid model since the the 80s or 90s with Harstons then Rural Metro then AMR

Each jurisdiction has handled this issue uniquely, LACoFD for one, LAFD assumed service after issues in the late 70s

FDNY merged health and Hospitals ambulance into the FDNY, some have argued as a Empire building exercise

The fact is Calls for EMS have become 80% or so of the total responses and fire depts. and due to its deployment model can effectively respond in a reasonable amount of time.   There are frankly as many EMS deployment systems(public, Private, Hybird) as there are communities.

[FF Buff One 36]

Chula Vista is leaving AMR  and they have 2 new RAs looks sweet https://vimeo.com/504573009

[Rescue51 44]

Two medic rigs certainly will not be enough to cover Chula Vista.  They will need a bunch more.  Thanks for sharing that, I did not know Chula Vista was terminating with AMR.  El Cajon FD (1/3 agencies within Heartland Fire-Rescue), had their own medic rigs up to a few years back where they went AMR.  I wonder how that is fairing for them? 

[e5911 23]

My guess is they will make a drug deal with Falick or AMR for Call When needed ambulances, In Yuma Amr kicks back part of the bill to the city for getting to operate on the exclusive area.  Like I said, there are lots of ways they can do it, as long as the regulating agency approves it.

 

[scnradio 8]

I read some place that in all it will be Chula Vista, Bonita, and ib.  I think the total was like 13 units but do not hold me to it .  I am grabbing from 3 hours of sleep

[California Red 11]

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/amr-no-more-san-diego-city-council-votes-to-switch-ambulance-service-providers/2575985/

 

 

If you call 911 for an ambulance in San Diego, a different company will soon be taking you to a hospital. More than 150 public speakers weighed in on the San Diego City Council vote on a final contract with Falck, a switch from longtime provider AMR.

The council voted unanimously in favor of switching provider. AMR is scheduled to serve San Diego for the next six months or so and help with the transition

AMR has a history of issues with ambulance response times. The city's new provider, Falck, said it has a plan to fix that, but not everyone is sure they can.

Local

 

 

 

[California Red 11]

https://californianewstimes.com/san-diego-concerned-new-ambulance-company-struggling-to-hire-secure-new-vehicles/531136/

 

 

San Diego-

 

The company, which will become San Diego’s new ambulance provider on Thanksgiving weekend, is struggling to hire ambulance personnel and secure new ambulances, and city officials are being urged to express concern about the transition.

 

According to Fire Chief Colin Stowell, Falk, a Danish company that handles ambulance services in many cities around the world, took on long-time urban ambulance provider American Medical Response at 8:00 am on November 27. Will be replaced.

The acquisition will take place at the end of a six-month transition period approved by the city council last spring, which chose Falk over AMR as an ambulance provider in San Diego, based on a promise of better service and response time.

None of the areas where Falk is below the city’s expectations will endanger life, Stowell said. However, the slow progress of some priorities raised concerns about stability during the transition, and the city’s fire department moved to a positive stance.

 

“I’ve quoted some concerns. I’d like to see progress in some areas, but I think many of these things can be achieved because it’s still 10 weeks away from the launch date. “I will,” said Stowell. ..

Although understandable in a very tough labor market, Stowell’s inability to hire enough emergency personnel delays fulfilling his promise to increase overall ambulance time by 20% over what AMR offered. He said it was likely.

Falk is also struggling to fulfill its promise to quickly replace all 66 ambulances with new ones. Due to the shortage of pandemic-related microchips, the challenge these days is to buy new vehicles of all types.

Falck has secured 34 new ambulances. This meets the contractual agreement that at least half of the ambulances are new. The fleet will not be all new ambulances until next spring, as the other 32 new ambulances are expected to arrive at a rate of about two per week, Stwell said.

Edited September 30, 2021 by California Red

[Rescue51 44]

Hopefully this does not become a train wreck.

[California Red 11]

https://www.facebook.com/FalckSD/posts/366575781904029

For those with FB, they just had their ribbon cutter. I've not seen them around, yet, but I'm kind of a homebody. I'll need to check Squad 37's YouTube.

 

[California Red 11]

Quote

SAN DIEGO — The City of San Diego is now considering what action it will take if Falck doesn't make major changes to improve its response times and ongoing staffing issues, and said action could be taken as soon as January.

"We can't wait any longer we are already in a position we need to start addressing this issue now," Chief Colin Stowell, San Diego Fire Chief.

 

Falck began working for the city one year ago.

"They promised they would do better and be better and they have not in a single month in the past year, not once have they lived up to the minimum," said Marni von Wilpert, a member of San Diego's City Council.

Falck's goal is to arrive to life saving calls within 12 minutes but the Stowell said the fire department has seen it take an ambulance up to 25 minutes to arrive. This forces firefighters to step in when the ambulance doesn't arrive fast enough.

 

https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/san-diego-considering-action-if-ambulance-provider-falck-doesnt-improve/509-aac620ab-ddd9-4f4c-b143-19a81408661b

[Monrovia1 21]

On 11/18/2022 at 0:00 AM, California Red said:

 

https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/san-diego-considering-action-if-ambulance-provider-falck-doesnt-improve/509-aac620ab-ddd9-4f4c-b143-19a81408661b

LA County has had issues with Care a Division of Falck and there extended ETA's to the point that they've had to transport patients in the engine and squad. Monrovia has also had issues and ended up calling for an RA from either Arcadia or Sierra Madre.

[California Red 11]

https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/san-diego-news/falck-appoints-john-goward-to-oversee-san-diegos-ambulance-operations

Quote

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Falck Mobile Health announced Wednesday it has appointed John Goward to lead San Diego's paramedic emergency ambulance services.

Goward has more than 40 years of experience in the fire service and commercial ambulance fields combined. He will lead more than 400 Falck paramedics, EMTs, administrative and support personnel in San Diego, a Falck spokesperson said.

Goward is an internal candidate for Falck's top operations job in America's Finest City; he currently serves as the director of emergency operations for San Diego. His transition to the managing director job will happen on June 2, the press release says.

 

[Monrovia1 21]

How come San Diego doesn't just start there own Ambulances? They could even go with what Glendale is doing, ALS Engine's with BLS ambulances operated by single function EMT's.

[Generic 6]

On 5/16/2023 at 10:38 PM, Monrovia1 said:

How come San Diego doesn't just start there own Ambulances? They could even go with what Glendale is doing, ALS Engine's with BLS ambulances operated by single function EMT's.

San Diego cannot legally take over and start their own ambulance service under state law. They must have had "rights" since 1980 and that has not been the case. I don't know if they ever had them or had them and lost them. They can compete in a competitive process and if they win, they can provide service.

San Bernardino City attempted to start its own ambulance service 25ish years ago and was sued by the California EMS Authority, San Bernardino County and the local ambulance company. They lost the case and stopped service.

[Ayatollah 2]

On 5/24/2023 at 7:12 PM, Generic said:

San Diego cannot legally take over and start their own ambulance service under state law. They must have had "rights" since 1980 and that has not been the case. I don't know if they ever had them or had them and lost them. They can compete in a competitive process and if they win, they can provide service.

San Bernardino City attempted to start its own ambulance service 25ish years ago and was sued by the California EMS Authority, San Bernardino County and the local ambulance company. They lost the case and stopped service.

So if that's true, explain how the agencies that run AO and/or ambulance service programs are performing ambulance transportation within their jurisdictions? Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Chula Vista, Downey to name just a few. I don't doubt what you're saying was the law at one time, but something must have changed legally to allow a workable process for establishing a BLS transportation system. In my opinion, the handwriting is on the wall, SDFR is headed in the direction of providing BLS service in the future.

[FF Buff One 36]

Oceanside FD in north county has expanded their EMS division adding  3 BLS Ambulances to their fleet thanks to Measure X.(assigned to BLS 212,.213, & 217) Also Vista FD and North County FPD signed an agreement to add a BLS Ambulance to respond to calls within both cities. (BLS116 will respond to Oceanside & Carlsbad when needed)

[Generic 6]

On 5/29/2023 at 11:28 AM, Ayatollah said:

So if that's true, explain how the agencies that run AO and/or ambulance service programs are performing ambulance transportation within their jurisdictions? Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Chula Vista, Downey to name just a few. I don't doubt what you're saying was the law at one time, but something must have changed legally to allow a workable process for establishing a BLS transportation system. In my opinion, the handwriting is on the wall, SDFR is headed in the direction of providing BLS service in the future.

I think we are talking about two different things here. I am talking about 9-1-1 transport rights under the law and you are talking about staffing. After a quick search of some of those cities I am not familiar with, they all seem to be under the umbrella of the fire dept which have the rights to provide transport. How they staff the ambulances is up to them. Whether it be fire medics or non-safety personnel on the ambulance. If they want to have BLS ambulances with ALS engine companies, they can do that too. They can configure it how they want. Though, they cannot go from an ALS system down to a BLS system or they lose their transport rights.

This explains it more/better. https://www.emsaac.org/images/stories/2017-08-14_EMSAAC_Position_Paper_Grandfathering_and_Exclusivity.pdf

Any private ambulance or fire department can set up a non 9-1-1 ambulance service within a city if they so desire to provide ambulance transportation. For example, hospital to hospital transport.

 

 

[FF Buff One 36]

In an update to an earlier post.

As of June 1ST Oceanside has added a Medic Squad as MS211 using a former Battalion Chief's vehicle.

The Squad is the first in the North County. (Joining San Diego,Heartland,National City & Chula Vista having squads)

Former RA211 is now BLS210, BLS212 is now RA212.