Arizona health department approves operation of 2nd ambulance company in Maricopa County
Jan 7, 2015, 5:39 AM | Updated: 5:39 am
PHOENIX — Maricopa County will now have more competition among ambulance providers following a decision this week by the Arizona Department of Health Services.
The department’s director, Will Humble, announced that American Medical Response and its subsidiaries could begin operations in the county, paving the way for more competition.
“We’re excited. We have one chance here to make it right,” said Glenn Kasprzyk, chief operating officer of Life Line Ambulance, a subsidiary of AMR that operates in Prescott, Ariz. “We want to be a community partner in Maricopa County.”
Prior to Humble’s decision, the Rural/Metro Corporation was the only private ambulance service provider in Maricopa County.
However, financial troubles have prompted other companies, including AMR, to begin challenging Rural/Metro’s hold on the market.
“Part of the need was that lack of choice; and then, obviously, the other piece was the financial instability that occurred over at Rural/Metro: filing for bankruptcy,” Kasprzyk said.
Rural/Metro filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2013.
Kasprzyk said with the AZDHS’ approval, the company is now working to get its ambulances ready for service.
“We’re hopeful that we’ll be on the road in the next 24 to 48 hours,” he said Tuesday. “We will be meeting with the Bureau of EMS to get two ambulances of our first 20 inspected.”
AMR will operate both emergency and non-emergency ambulance services, Kasprzyk said.
The Phoenix Business Journal reports that AMR Maricopa plans to hire as many as 80 people in the county.
The KTAR Newsroom contributed to this report.
