AMR Enters Definitive Agreement to Acquire Rural/Metro

[emt2359]

Two big guys becoming one:

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150730006559/en/Envision-Healthcare-Enters-Definitive-Agreement-Acquire-RuralMetro#.VbrK6vlVgSU

What are your thoughts?

[scubanurse]

It's going to be interesting.  Only time will tell if having one big empire vs two will be ok or not.

[trackmedic]

I wonder is AMR will embrace the fire suppression side of Rural Metro?   

[Violyn]

I wonder is AMR will embrace the fire suppression side of Rural Metro?   

I have been wondering about this myself. My guess would be no, but there is a chance that's wrong. I may be able to glean some information about this in a couple of days. 

[Just Plain Ruff]

I have reservations about this, big reservations,  I mean if the feds have problems with a cable company buying another cable company and saying no to them, then I can't imagine they will allow this merger.  They will have to prove true benefit to the consumer on this merger.  

[Violyn]

It's a real problem for patients in the Phoenix area. No choice. But it's also a problem for those seeking employment. I really don't want to move. I've lived in Phoenix a long time, but it's frustrating to have few (or really no) options.

[Just Plain Ruff]

I'm thinking that the federal regulators might have a lot to say about this merger.  

[Doogs]

A friend used to work for Rural/Metro and has nothing good to say about the organization after they gave him a royal kick in the teeth.  If it happens it will be interesting to see how it changes. 

[Violyn]

As far as I know, it HAS happened. Lots of rigs have been taken out of parts of Phoenix. There has been a monopoly here for many years. It started with Rural Metro being fire and different ambulance companies...Kords and Southwest. I don't know what happened to Kords (before my time), but RM bought Southwest. Then PMT came in and there were two for a while and two or three years ago RM bought PMT. Back to a monopoly. AMR came in and then there were two......again. 

The rest is soon to be history.

 

(I'm a very recent, former employee of RM)

Edited October 17, 2015 by Violyn

[scubanurse]

In the Denver area, RM bought Pridemark back in 2011 and now RM has been bought by AMR.  Fortunately we have a lot of other small mom & pop ambulance companies that still provide excellent patient centered care so I'm not too concerned about AMR screwing up my patients before they get to us.  We also still have quite a few fire based services but that's a different story all together.