Council Decides to Go With Care Ambulance

After a second consultant recommended Care Ambulance Service Inc., the City Council this week voted to develop a contract with the Anaheim-based company.

Councilman Bob Zemel, a vocal critic of the evaluation and selection process, cast the only dissenting vote. Councilman Tom Tait in June had pushed for an independent analysis.

Emergency Consulting & Research Center of Carlsbad recently reviewed each of the five competing proposals and determined that Fire Department staff members and an independent review panel conducted a thorough and fair search.

Altmayer Consulting of Pasadena was also hired by the city in June to review the proposal process and concluded that it was not tainted or biased in favor of one company over another.

“In a process like this, I think the end winner is not Care or the city, it’s the citizens when they get the best possible emergency medical service available,” Fire Chief Jeff Bowman said.

Negotiations with Care should be completed by mid-September, then the council must approve the contract, the city’s first formal agreement for emergency transportation services. The contract could be worth as much as $10 million over a three-year term, officials said.

Care is expected to start providing emergency ambulance service by the end of the year, Bowman said.

The city now holds an informal agreement with American Medical Response, which ranked third in the search.