WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ore. — Metro West Ambulance is no longer protesting Washington County's plan to switch ambulance providers, clearing the way for the county to sign a new contract with EMS company American Medical Response.
If county commissioners approve a franchise agreement with AMR at their June 27 meeting, AMR will start providing ambulance services in the county on August 1.
Washington County announced its intent to switch from MWA to AMR in February but MWA protested the decision, with Metro West CEO Shawn Baird questioning the accuracy of details in AMR's proposal to the county.
That protest has been resolved, although both sides shared different views about how the dispute ended with KGW.
"Our response to Metro West Ambulance covered their concerns," said Adrienne Donner, Washington County's EMS program supervisor, in a statement to KGW. "They accepted the response and dropped the protest."
A MWA spokesperson painted a different story.
"Washington County denied Metro West Ambulance’s protest regarding the RFP for 9-1-1 Emergency Medical Ambulance Service," said Jesse Lee, a spokesperson for the company. "Metro West has been working with the county and stakeholders during this transition."
Neither side offered additional clarity on the discussions and resolution between the county and Hillsboro-based Metro West Ambulance.
Washington County has long planned an EMS upgrade, with the county's plans including a tiered ambulance response system, test programs to reduce ambulance wait times at hospitals, and data sharing to measure the quality of emergency care.
"We are bringing in clinical performance measures, so it's not solely about how fast an ambulance can get to a patient, but how well they respond to a patient," said Donner in a presentation to commissioners on June 13.
However, Washington County is looking to contract with AMR at a time when the company is under scrutiny for its lagging performance in Multnomah County.
AMR's response times have fallen off and ambulances are arriving later and later, below Multnomah County standards.
On more than 6,300 emergency 911 calls since January, dispatchers in Multnomah County have been unable to immediately assign an ambulance crew to respond because no AMR ambulances were available.
AMR has blamed a shortage of paramedics, but says that won't be a problem in Washington County.
An AMR representative told commissioners Tuesday that the company has hired 40 paramedics and 65 EMTs to work in Washington County, with a goal of staffing 50 paramedics and 76 EMTs for full service.
"We have been adding 5 paramedics and 5 EMTs each week and are confident that we will be fully staffed by August 1st," said AMR Vice President Randy Lauer in a letter to commissioners.
Lauer said about two-thirds of Metro West ambulance employees had committed to switch from MWA to AMR as the company has given preference to MWA employees, who have a history of working in the county.
Still, AMR's issues in Multnomah County were raised at the commission's work session, with Donner responding that there are key differences between the two areas.
"Multnomah County requires two paramedics in in each ambulance," she said. "We've always had one paramedic and then an EMT as the second [responder in an ambulance crew], and so that allows us greater capacity within the system."
KGW previously reported on Multnomah County's two-paramedic requirement and the varying perspectives on the role it plays in EMS response and staffing.
Multnomah County chair Jessica Vega Pederson told KGW that she thought about AMR’s expansion into Washington County when AMR proposed changing Multnomah County’s two-paramedic requirements.
“As they were proposing having a paramedic and an EMT as the base of operations, we really wanted to make sure that we weren't being driven by the need to just expand capacity to a new county, but really centering and holding true to those health outcomes and the type of service that we want people to have when they're in a really dire medical situation," she said.
Brad Anderson, Washington County deputy counsel, said officials have made it "abundantly clear" to AMR that the company needs to be "on the ground and running" on August 1 if commissioners approve the franchise agreement.
Anderson also said firefighter crews transport patients more often in Washington County than in Multnomah County, which can help when ambulance staffing is low.
"So you don't run into crazy situations like you've seen in the news where fire is just sitting there," he said.