Santa Barbara County’s current ambulance provider, American Medical Response (AMR), can continue serving the community until July 2024 after a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge ruled in the company’s favor.
Earlier this year, AMR sued Santa Barbara County for its decision to make the County Fire Department the new ambulance provider starting in March 2024. Known as a preliminary injunction, the judge’s decision requires Santa Barbara County to maintain its current contract with AMR and pause (a “stay” in legal terms) building its capacity for emergency medical services until a final ruling is issued. The trial is scheduled to begin on July 24, 2024.
“American Medical Response Santa Barbara is pleased with the findings of the court’s issuance of a preliminary injunction and stay of County Fire implementing ambulance services in Santa Barbara,” AMR Regional Director Mike Sanders told the Sun in a statement. “Although the litigation is not over, AMR’s top priority remains serving the Santa Barbara County community with the same high quality prehospital care it has provided for decades.”
AMR filed the lawsuit in September after the Board of Supervisors voted to deny AMR’s proposal and grant Santa Barbara County Fire as its new ambulance service provider. The suit claims that the decision violated the state’s EMS Act by awarding contracts solely to County Fire in its new nonexclusive agreement—which was designed to allow for more than one provider.
The Board of Supervisors launched a request for proposal (RFP) in 2019 to see what could be changed in the current system. County Fire and AMR responded in May 2022, and the county’s Local Emergency Medical Services Agency (LEMSA)—an independent agency that oversees ambulance services—awarded the contract to AMR.
In April 2023, the county switched to a nonexclusive ambulance services agreement where there could be more than one ambulance provider. The nonexclusive agreement set up a tiered system and a new permitting process where multiple applicants could apply for emergency medical calls, interfacility and special events transport, and/or critical care transport—all of which were awarded to County Fire.
According to the ruling, the county’s permit ordinance should not have had the potential to result in a single provider being granted a permit and this nonexclusive agreement does not “excuse its noncompliance” with the exclusive operating area granted for County Fire through this decision. LEMSA approval and oversight is a necessary “prerequisite” and “condition,” the judge wrote, in order for County Fire to operate as the sole provider.
“For purposes of the motion for preliminary injunction, the court finds that county’s ordinance unduly precludes LEMSA input, contrary to the terms and intent of the EMS Act,” according to the ruling. “Rather than limiting the board to oversight or final approval decisions made on LEMSA’s professional recommendations, the ordinance reserves EMS policy-making and provider decisions to the board, based upon criteria which appear to have been so vaguely drafted that providers such as AMR are unable to challenge or refute the denial of their permits in any meaningful manner.”
The judge added that the injunction would not harm the public because AMR has a proven record of providing emergency medical services in Santa Barbara County and scored 317 points higher than County Fire in the RFP process.
Santa Barbara County Public Information Officer Kelsey Buttitta told the Sun that the county will continue to work with AMR while the case awaits trial and a final decision.
“The county’s goal continues to be the provision of timely and responsive ambulance transport with the highest quality emergency medical care to meet the needs and expectations of our community,” Buttitta said in a statement. “At this time AMR remains the contracted ambulance provider for the county of Santa Barbara and the community can feel confident that the legal challenge does not impact the delivery of 911 emergency medical services the community receives.”
