A regional EMS council gave its stamp of approval Monday for Central EMS to be the zone provider in Augusta-Richmond County.
The expected move sends the recommendation on to the Georgia Department of Public Health, which gives the final OK, but questions remain including how much the service will cost.
Until the state approves and local officials negotiate a contract with Central, Augusta will remain in a month-to-month contract with Gold Cross, the provider for almost 20 years. Despite pulling out of Augusta last month, the company returned with bids both to be Augusta’s contracted provider and for the zone, but won neither.
Only one of the Region 6 EMS Council’s approximately 35 members, Burke County Deputy Coroner Bonnie Powell, voted against selecting Central. Eight members abstained because they either worked for Augusta or Gold Cross or hadn’t completed a conflict of interest statement.
Member Richard Schwartz, the chairman of AU Medical Center Emergency Medicine, asked why Augusta couldn’t have been give more time to negotiate with a provider beyond the 10-day window afforded by state government, as Mayor Garnett Johnson asked.
By the time the window closed, Augusta had procured a provider, Ameripro, but Johnson broke a tie vote against hiring them. The following day the commission lacked a quorum to take any further action.
Council Chairman John Graham said the process was locked in. Augusta Commissioner Bobby Williams, who attended Monday, said the commission was “deadlocked” over whether to reemploy Gold Cross and unlikely to change.
Central, owned by a private equity firm, hasn’t said what it will demand in a “subsidy” to service Augusta, but CEO and founder Gary Coker said investors require a return of 10%. Gold Cross had been seeking an almost $2 million annual subsidy and one-time inducement of nearly $2 million. Augusta is paying Gold Cross $150,000 per month.
Central is the lead provider in one Georgia county, Forsyth, while its parent company Priority Ambulance owns providers in six others, including Cobb.
