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2 <br />that volunteers are able to contribute. To that end, the Squad has been forced to <br />increase the number of paid personnel to adequately provide emergency transporation <br />services in order to comply with its contract with the County. As a result, the Squad's <br />cost of providing emergency transportation services has increased significantly over the <br />past several years. <br />Within the last year, the Squad's Board of Directors has evaluated the organization's <br />health and concluded that it is in the best interest of the Squad to stop providing <br />emergency transportation. In essence, the Squad requested in a November 2002 letter <br />to the BOCC that the County take over the transportation component of emergency <br />medical services through a structured transition away from Squad-provided service. <br />Upon receipt of the Squad's letter, County staff began evaluating various service <br />delivery options. In order to be consistent with the County's 1995 EMS strategic plan, <br />specific areas were explored and analyzed: <br />• Quality of patient care including customer service and patient satisfaction <br />• Compliance with County EMS protocol, policies, and procedures <br />• Management of resources <br />• Fiscal impact <br />• Response time <br />Staff analyzed three basic service delivery models to identify which one would best fit <br />Orange County's EMS strategic plan. The models are described below: <br />• Option A Mixture of paid and volunteer County and Squad personnel. <br />Option B Privatization of the emergency transport function -much the way the non- <br />emergency transport function was privatized in 1994. <br />• Option C Transition the transportation function and associated staffing from a <br />squad-provided service to a County staffed one. <br />Following further discussions with Squad representatives, Option A no longer appears <br />to be a viable option. Option B, privatization, offers some benefits such as the lowest <br />per-unit dollar cost, because of economies of scale. Overall, staff found Option B weak <br />in most of the areas analyzed. For example, experience with the County's non- <br />emergency transportation service cause concern. The current non-emergency <br />providers have been unable to provide timely convalescent services in some instances. <br />