Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
x <br /> c <br /> 2 r <br /> believes that the availability of these six additional ambulances should benefit Orange County <br /> citizens who need to avail themselves of this private service by providing shorter wait times for <br /> ambulances. <br /> Staff in the Department of Emergency Management Services has noted an increase in <br /> consumer complaints in the past six months about non-emergency ambulance transportation, <br /> primarily in regard to increased wait times for service. The ambulance franchise ordinance <br /> stipulates in part that a franchise may be granted if"the proposed service will fit within the <br /> existing service so as not to adversely affect the level of service or operations of other <br /> franchisees to render service". Staff believes that an increasing demand for non-emergency <br /> ambulance service is the primary factor driving the increase in complaints about the current <br /> franchisee, and that, based on the increasing demands for service, the franchising of a second <br /> non-emergency provider will not negatively impact the current franchisee. Franchising another <br /> non-emergency provider would also benefit Orange County citizens by providing them a choice <br /> in service providers. <br /> The Director of Emergency Management has prepared a general outline of the purpose and <br /> structure of non-emergency transport service delivery in Orange County. Additional information <br /> explains points to consider as staff looks at the long-term non-emergency transportation needs <br /> and how the franchise ordinance needs to be revised. Staff believes that the potential benefits <br /> to citizens of having a second service provider to choose from justify awarding of a franchise to <br /> AAA at this time, recognizing that other work is continuing to develop revisions to the existing <br /> ordinance which would include qualitative service standards that would be expected of future <br /> franchisees. <br /> FINANCIAL IMPACT: Since non-emergency ambulance transportation is arranged directly <br /> between individual citizens and the service provider, there is no direct financial impact for <br /> Orange County related to decisions to grant franchises. However, staff expects that there will <br /> be a positive impact on the allocation of existing County resources. Some County emergency <br /> ambulances that must now be used on occasion for non-emergency transports to fill service <br /> gaps created by private provider backlogs will be able to be redirected to their intended primary <br /> purpose of providing emergency transports. <br /> RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board: 1) award a franchise to <br /> AAA Transport of Durham to help relieve the needs of facilities by having service provided in a <br /> timely manner; 2) provide direction to staff regarding any provisions or considerations that the <br /> Board would like to have incorporated in a revised ambulance franchise ordinance, including <br /> elevated expectations of service delivery criteria; and 3) solicit comments from the Orange <br /> County Advisory Board on Aging regarding needed and proposed changes to the County's <br /> ambulance franchise ordinance. <br />