31 Dec Broken Bids – It’s time to reform the competitive ambulance procurement model
Updated 12/21/2022 with updated URL.
JEMS annually reports that close to half of America’s largest cities are served by private ambulance services and the American Ambulance Association predicts that 75% of the U.S. population is served by private companies. In many of these communities, competitive RFP processes are used to select their EMS providers. In theory, this allows communities to leverage competition and select the most qualified, quality provider for their community. Is that really what happens? In this month’s EMS Insider column, Dr. David M. Williams describes the flaws in the current legacy RFP process that has gone virtually unchanged for decades. He then makes a case for reforming the process to improve the quality for patients and communities and leverages the entrepreneurial spirit of qualified ambulance services. You can read the entire article online…
EMS Insider
Broken Bids
It’s time to reform the competitive ambulance procurement model
By David M. Williams, Ph.D., Medic Health
Read the headlines around the country about competitive ambulance bid processes and it sounds like a train wreck. Spokane, Wash., is considering reopening its bid process after community members questioned its fairness after only receiving one bid. The Alameda County, Calif., bid award resulted in a major lawsuit between bidders. Merced, Calif., had to start over after a bidder protested what they claimed was a “flawed process.” Two bidders protested the Napa County, Calif., process claiming bias and scoring discrepancies. These are newspaper stories and not representative of all the facts, but there are enough of these stories to question the legacy process in place and look to modernize it for today’s EMS….read the whole article here.