AMR management criticizes Multnomah County for staffing issues fine

By Adrian Thomas

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    PORTLAND Oregon (KPTV) — Last week, Multnomah County commissioners announced a $513,650 fine issued to American Medical Response (AMR) for what county emergency management officials said was poor response times by AMR crews back in August.

AMR management says, however, they are not the ones to blame.

Randy Laur, who oversees AMR operations in the Metro Area and other parts of the state, and Robert McDonald, who manages AMR in Multnomah County, said the large fine isn’t the answer, and won’t solve what they say is a nationwide staffing crisis.

“It could do a lot of things that are bad. It’s not going to produce any more paramedics, there’s just not enough paramedics out there,” Lauer said. “We’re going through the most severe paramedic shortage our nation has ever seen.”

Lauer and McDonald said Multnomah County is unique in that it requires all ambulances for serious medical calls to be staffed with two paramedics, while other counties AMR serves in the metro area staff one paramedic and one EMT on each ambulance.

Robert McDonald said the approach of one EMT and one paramedic could make a significant impact and by leading to more ambulances deployed and quicker response times.

“We’ve come to the medical program director and subsequently the county chair with a very good argument supported by data,” McDonald said. “Of the 267 (AMR) operations across the country that have 911 frontline responsibility, there’s only one that has a two paramedic requirement and it’s here in Portland.”

This issue was addressed back in September at a Multnomah County commissioners meeting where county EMS officials spoke about the response time issues with AMR, and warned of a potential fine. County emergency management officials stressed at the time that it’s more medically responsible to staff two paramedics on AMR ambulances, and there are not enough EMTs available right now for the one paramedic, one EMT approach.

It’s unclear what the $513,650 fine will be used for by Multnomah County, but county commissioners have suggested the funds could go towards EMT and paramedic scholarships, and projects to help retain paramedics and EMTs in the county.

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