Washington County Ending Ambulance Contract With Metro West

HILLSBORO, OR — Washington County is ending its contract to get ambulance services from Metro West on June 30, the county announced last week. The contract has been place since 1997.

The county can't make the changes to emergency services that it needs to under the contract, county officials said.

"We want to ensure that our community members have access to the highest quality emergency response resources," Washington County Chair Kathryn Harrington said. "Our current contract is more than 20 years old and does not provide the flexibility to make changes that will modernize our system and allow for improved services."

Harrington said that there are several changes that the county wants to make, including:

• Upgrade the dispatch system so that 911 operators can see where ambulances are in real time, allowing them to send the closest ambulance to an emergency.
• Allow for the monitoring of more performance statistics. Currently, Metro West only has to measure response time. The county would like to also measure outcomes among other statistics.
• The county wants whatever company gets the contract to be required to use a computerized data with all emergency departments in the county, so they can all measure the quality of response and look for emerging patterns.

The county made the decision after receiving a report from the Washington County Emergency Medical Services Alliance, a board that consists of four area fire chiefs and an assistant county administrator. They developed their report working with the Washington County Emergency Medical Services program.

"A new contract will allow us to implement a modernized EMS system that integrates with our healthcare and emergency partners and delivers patient-centered care to members of our community," said David Downey, the chairman of the Washington County Emergency Medical Services Alliance and the chief of Hillsboro Fire and Rescue.

Metro West is eligible to apply for the new contract.