Question

[MedicNathan2004]

Are we talking about private ambulance services that provide 911? Or are we talking about 911 public services vs. private transfer service?

[kghemtp]

Nate, it's generally the issue between private companies versus municipal/town fire departments providing 911 service. It's a never-ending story here!

[MedicNathan2004]

EMS Orgie, not EMS War.;)

[howelljosh9848]

I believe there is really three levels of EMS structures as for as 911 calls go:

1st County/Fire Dept. based could for 911
2nd Private non-profits not bad for 911 but they do need transfer to a float
3rd corprate EMS don't care all that much about 911 as they do about transfer or money making as they have stock holders to answer to.

just a thought

[PeelMedic]

Here in Ontario, (Canada) we have many different types of service providers. Up until recently, the province funded all the services, but only ran a few of them directly. Others were contracted out to private companies (for profit), some were run by volunteer organizations, some were run directly by a hospital and some run by a city or municipality. (ie: Toronto) Ontario is made up of approx. 50 municipalities (regions/counties) and recently the province downloaded the responsibility of funding and operating ems directly to those municipalities. Though this brought on alot of change (and overdue improvement) in many cases, the provider didn't change. These municipalities either brought the service 'in-house' (ran it directly themselves) or gave a contract to the best bid from a private, for- profit comapny. In some cases, the services are still run by by a hospital, run by the a city that is within the municipality, or has been merged with the local fire service. It may seem confusing, but the province has put out a set of standards that must be maintained by all providers. This created alot of uniformity across the province. The province also controls most of the 911 dipatching, and has an investigations branch that has a great deal of power to enforce their standards. (kinda' like ems internal affairs) All medics in Ontario have to have the same provincial qualifications to have employment.