AMR begins new medical transport and support contract for US government
American Medical Response (AMR) began operations under a new US$1.2 billion contract awarded by the US Federal Management Agency (FEMA) on Sunday 1 May
The contract, which covers the provision of medical transport and support in response to national disasters and emergencies, runs for five years, until 30 April 2027.
It follows the expiry of a previous five-year agreement between AMR and FEMA to supplement the government’s official response to crises, which covered the provision of ground ambulance, air ambulance, paratransit services and non-ambulance emergency medical service (EMS) personnel to the agency.
Under the previous agreement, AMR says that it deployed its services on behalf of FEMA a total of 62 times – including for the onsite provision of transport and medical services after several wildfires and 14 hurricanes, as well as providing support during the coronavirus pandemic, including the administering of over one million vaccines.
As part of the contract, AMR, a Global Medical Response subsidiary, says it keeps ‘hundreds of ambulances serviced and ready in strategic locations across the country’ and can also ‘stand up its own mobile satellite communications network to track, dispatch and communicate with first responders in these disaster areas and ensure connectivity with the teams monitoring patient transports’.