So I was going through EMS related articles, trying to catch up on things or just to see what’s going on out there this week and I came across a rather interesting one. As many of you may or may not know, some of the country’s largest private ambulance companies are being purchased by large equity firms. There is speculation as to why equity firms would purchase these companies, and they are believed to be to either sell of pieces for cash or that they may be part of a wave that will return a good profit.
The thoughts are with the changes in the current healthcare system in the US, larger numbers of those going from uninsured/underinsured to having insurance, leading to an increase in reimbursement rates for ambulance services. If this is to play out the way these equity firms see it, then the private ambulance service would have an increase in their profits if they could increase their revenues from reimbursements.
Now with this happening in the EMS world, private ambulance services being bought up by equity firms, there is also speculation about if the fire service is next. The example that is being given is in San Carlos California where Wackenhut Services is working on a 10 year contract to provide fire services to the city. Wackenhut is a subsidiary of Falck, which is a large equity firm that has purchased two private ambulance companies in California and is said to be Europe’s largest ambulance services provider.
So back to San Carlos where currently the contract for Belmont-San Carlos fire services is under negotiations is set to expire in October when their services would also expire. Wackenhut has come in an offered to provide these services with increased staffing at much lower rates than current ones. The article notes that Wackenhut has come in with a bid ranging between 4 and 4.6 million while San Carlos officials say it would cost them about 12 million dollars to provide the same services.
So while everyone has an opinion on this subject, I think it is important to note that the model for EMS has the potential for being applied to the fire service. This is also important due to the way the economy has impacted so many towns recently as it relates to essential services that are being provided to the public.
Anyway, this is just something I thought rather interesting and here is a link to the article and let me know your thoughts on this.
Have a great weekend and stay safe.
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