By a unanimous vote, the county supervisors voted last week to drastically change the way ambulance service providers are selected. For the first time ever, the supervisors — not the director of the county’s emergency services — will be selecting the service provider; also for the first time ever, the county has the latitude to put the emergency medical services (EMS) contract out for non-exclusive bids.
Based on the new “non-exclusivity” ordinance approved by the supervisors, competing providers will be allowed to bid for one of three separate ambulance contracts: one for 9-1-1 calls, another for inter-facility transfers (rides between hospitals or care facilities), and one for critical care rides in which advanced care personnel are required. All three contracts are countywide in scope, meaning the county will not be carved up into geographical subunits.
“There was a lot of concern about the prospect of ambulance wars,” said Santa Barbara City Fire Chief Chris Mailes, a former private ambulance EMT and paramedic in Santa Barbara. “There will be no ambulance wars.”