OKLAHOMA CITY, December 1, 2020 — The Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) today completed its transition of providing and managing in-field and dispatch services from American Medical Response, Inc. (AMR) to the Authority.

EMSA CEO Jim, Winham, Western Division Operations Manager Michael Parrish, and EMSA Chief, Support Services Bryan Jones after the completion of the transition.

The transition follows the decision made on Oct. 28, 2020, by the EMSA Board of Trustees to terminate the contract with American Medical Response, Inc. as a result of multiple contractual defaults by AMR.

“I want to ensure all of the Oklahomans we serve that our emergency medical services are continuing without interruption, and our top priority remains to provide the highest quality emergency medical care possible,” said Jim Winham, EMSA’s Chief Executive Officer. “Our leadership has extensive experience leading emergency service provider operations, and the strength and stability of our system was built for these transitions. I’m confident that those we serve will see and receive the highest level of performance and an overall improvement in our services.”

EMSA was able to hire more than 95 percent of the medics previously working for AMR, allowing a seamless transition with proven EMS professionals who have been cleared by the independent Office of the Medical Director and have valuable experience working in the EMSA system. Additionally, EMSA is receiving a high volume of job opportunity inquiries from previous employees. EMSA will also take over new hire academies, which gives paramedics and EMTs the EMSA-specific training and education needed to succeed in EMSA’s high-performance system.

“We are grateful and excited that we were able to have hired so many of the Team Members who have been working with us and welcome them to the EMSA team,” said Winham. “As EMSA takes over the provider services, we are committed to increasing the number of medics in the field, better response times, and generally enhanced services, and our experienced Team Members will be crucial to meeting those goals.”

EMSA, Oklahoma’s largest provider of pre-hospital emergency medical care, is a public trust which was established to provide ambulance services to the cities of Tulsa, Oklahoma City and other cities within the regulated service area. EMSA holds the ambulance license with the state of Oklahoma. EMSA owns or leases the capital assets, including ambulances, equipment and other infrastructure, and collects revenues, and now provides all ambulance services, including staffing for those services.

EMSA services will continue as usual, and EMSA will, in accordance with the Trust Indenture, seek to identify a new ambulance services provider in the future, while maintaining its number one priority to ensure EMSA is providing the highest quality emergency medical care possible to the Oklahomans it serves.