Ambulance Provider Falls Short, Fire Chief Says

A company that provides ambulance service in several Orange County cities is violating its contracts by putting too few ambulances on the streets, the Orange County Fire Authority chief said Tuesday.

Chip Prather told the Board of Supervisors there was no evidence that the reduced number of ambulances had impeded medical treatment or put anyone in danger.

But the chief said Medix Ambulance Service had reduced by one-third the number of ambulances it agreed to provide in the 11 cities it serves. Prather said one option for those cities would be to cancel their contracts and negotiate deals with other companies.

Medix negotiated contracts separately with the cities last year and agreed to have 24 ambulances available. After winning the 11 contracts, the company decided to serve those cities with 16 ambulances that rotate between the cities as needed, Prather said.

Eric Saline, a Medix official, told supervisors that the company had enough ambulances in place to serve those communities.

“Under no circumstance is public health and safety being compromised,” Saline said.

He conceded, however, that the company was not providing as many ambulances as it agreed to.

“The contract we signed and the way we’re running it are a little different,” he said.

County supervisors said they were concerned that the company won the contract in a bidding process by making promises that it had not kept. For instance, Medix agreed to have two ambulances available in Villa Park 24 hours a day but instead had one ambulance in the city full time and another for eight hours a day.

“It’s an issue of fairness,” said Supervisor Chris Norby. “There were many other ambulance companies bidding on this.”

The Orange County Fire Authority board, which voted to approve many of the contracts, is scheduled to meet this month to discuss the contracts.

Norby, who sits on that board, said he was inclined to vote to rescind the contract unless Medix met its obligations.

“The contracts are clear, and Medix has admitted that they’re not living up to the contract,” Norby said after the meeting. “To renegotiate so early would be unfair to the other ambulance companies that competed in this process.... My vote is going to be to get the deal we contracted for.”