Hot Springs awards exclusive ambulance franchise to LifeNet as leaders raise concerns about psychiatric transport capacity
Loading...
Summary
The Hot Springs Board of Directors adopted an ordinance granting an exclusive five-year ambulance franchise to LifeNet Inc., while directors and staff raised concerns about capacity for inpatient psychiatric transports after a local hospital announced plans to stop inpatient psychiatric services.
The Hot Springs City Board of Directors on June 17 adopted Ordinance O-25-28, awarding an exclusive five-year franchise for emergency and nonemergency ambulance services to LifeNet Inc.
The board voted to approve the agreement after the city’s earlier top-ranked proposer failed to win sufficient votes; city staff then negotiated terms with LifeNet. The franchise, which the city says is self-sustaining and will receive no city funding, requires LifeNet to maintain specified response levels and community outreach commitments.
City staff and directors told the board the selection followed a request for proposals issued Nov. 19, 2024, that drew four bidders. A selection committee ranked Survival Flight EMS first, LifeNet second, Pafford Medical Services third and Southern Paramedic Service fourth; the board previously considered but did not adopt a Survival Flight franchise, a staff report said.
“We will forward that information to the city manager and the fire chief, and then we will get that disseminated out to you all,” Alicia Haley, chief executive officer of LifeNet, said when asked how community training and outreach contacts would be coordinated. Haley introduced Taylor Baker as a LifeNet public-relations contact who began work the day of the meeting.
The vote concludes the city’s vendor process and installs LifeNet as the exclusive franchise holder for ambulance services inside Hot Springs’ corporate limits for the term set by the ordinance. Chief Ed Davis told the board the franchise requires five state-licensed paramedic-level units and one advanced-life-support helicopter within the service area as part of the operational plan, and that LifeNet will handle community training and outreach under the agreement.
Directors and staff spent substantial time on how an inpatient psychiatric care reduction at a local hospital would affect operations. The meeting included extended discussion of transports for psychiatric patients and the operational changes LifeNet expects to make.
“[W]e do have behavioral health transport vans. We call them BHT vans, and we do not have a facility that we transport in the city. So we take those out,” Haley said, describing LifeNet’s approach to psychiatric transports and saying the company could operate additional vans to handle demand. Chief Davis said LifeNet proposes two basic-life-support units and a dedicated van to carry non-ALS behavioral-health transports so ALS ambulances are not routinely tied up for long out-of-area runs.
Board members asked whether LifeNet, the hospitals, and other providers had met to coordinate transfers after an announcement that a local inpatient psychiatric program would cease operations Aug. 1. City Manager Bill Burrow and Chief Davis said they had convened calls with hospital administrators, judges and service providers, and that a collaborative effort was underway.
“We had a conference call today that the CEO of CHI Saint Vincent’s had orchestrated, and we had both Judge Mahoney and myself on the line as well as both hospital administrators, their emergency department physicians, as well as Pafford and LifeNet,” Burrow said.
Directors pressed for regular reporting. Director Steve Trustee asked whether LifeNet’s annual and meeting reports would reach the board; staff said LifeNet will provide a yearly activity report and the city manager would provide executive summaries to the board following the franchise oversight meetings.
Board action and next steps
The board adopted the ordinance on a roll-call vote with all members present voting in favor. Director Webb voted aye; Director Garcia aye; Director Trustee aye; Director Holiday aye; Director Beard aye; Director Dobbsmith aye; Mayor Pat McCabe aye.
City staff said the franchise agreement includes a city–franchise oversight committee made up of city and provider representatives; the city manager will coordinate executive summaries of franchise activity for board review. Mayor McCabe asked city staff to continue coordination with hospitals and LifeNet as the community addresses the inpatient psychiatric service changes.
Speakers quoted in this article spoke at the June 17, 2025 Hot Springs City Board of Directors meeting.
