The Willamette Week announced that American Medical Response (AMR) was their “Rogue of the Week” for “Sticking it to Sick People” in Multnomah County.  AMR had the “audacity” (in the midst of high unemployment)  to ask Multnomah County recently for a 12% rate increase in the fees they charge patients for ambulance transports.  What the WW didn’t mention was Emergency Medical Services Corporation (the parent company based in Colorado that owns American Medical Response) is trying to raise rates at the same time they are making record profits. As EMSC Chairman/CEO William Sanger recently stated, “EMSC had another banner year in 2009,…we produced strong organic growth, won a significant number of new contracts, and enhanced our market position with targeted acquisitions.” As the Denver Post reported at link below, EMSC revenue climbed to $654.3 million for the 4th quarter of 2009 (more than $50 million above the 4th quarter of 2008) and American Medical Response revenue was responsible for $331.1 million of that total. AMR provides local ambulance services in 250 municipalities across the country.

The WW article also didn’t mention that AMR transported 51,792 people in Multnomah County in 2009 and collected a net revenue of $24,860,529, a 20% increase in the number of transports from the first year of their exclusive contract with the county starting in 2006.

The WW article did reference our firm’s $3.3 million jury award against AMR for the sexual-assault of Royshekka Herring by Lannie Haszard.  Our firm represented 4 other women abused by Mr. Haszard in cases that settled last year and we are currently representing 8 additional victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Mr. Haszard. Stay tuned to our website for updates on these 8 new cases.

http://wweek.com/columns/rogue/#36.29

http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2010/02/08/daily58.html

http://mchealth.org/ems/documents/multco_hearing_submission.pdf