UMC says threat used to get better deal with ambulances

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Tuesday, May 1, 2001 | 10:44 a.m.

A University Medical Center spokesman said Monday that plans to terminate a contract with two ambulance companies to provide transport for critical care patients was nothing more than a negotiating tactic.

American Medical Response and Southwest Ambulance have contracts with UMC to provide transport for critical patients and to "rent" UMC nurses at an hourly rate of $23.05 to ride with the paramedics. UMC's agenda for the April 11 meeting called for the termination of the contracts, but UMC spokesman Rick Plummer said Monday the threat of termination was used to negotiate better terms for the contracts.

Plummer said he didn't know the exact terms of the new contract but expected it would be signed by both Southwest and AMR before the May 15 board of trustees meeting.

John Wilson, executive partner of Southwest Ambulance, said Monday he was dismayed by UMC's tactics.

"This is not how we're used to being dealt with," Wilson said. "We would have preferred an opportunity to sit down with the folks at UMC and talk things over like professionals."

The initial contract was signed in November and was written as a one-year agreement. Instead, UMC officials said they planned to terminate the contracts. UMC officials at the time said the program wasn't profitable enough to continue.

Wilson said he received a termination letter several weeks before the item initially appeared on the agenda for the April 11 UMC board meeting. He and his business partner, Sharon Henry, were surprised to learn UMC wanted to increase the hourly rate of $23.05 for each nurse to $30; the hospital also wanted an additional $500 a month for the right to cover a daily 12-hour shift.

Southwest will likely go along with the new contract, at least temporarily, Wilson said. Though the UMC nurses provide outstanding care to the patients being transported, Wilson said, it might be better in the long run for Southwest to hire its own staff.

"We can't be held hostage every time UMC changes its mind," Wilson said.

Allison Newlon, director of public relations for AMR, said her company received the new contract from UMC and expected that it would be signed by Friday. Newlon said she wasn't surprised by UMC officials threatening to cancel the contract to negotiate higher rates.

"We didn't take it personally," Newlon said Monday. "We saw it as just business as usual."