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In a Wednesday letter to emergency medical services providers in the county, Director of Emergency Services Riley Shurtleff said the data suggests AMR's exit will "strain but not break the system."

"Several remaining agencies are willing to step forward and pick up their volume," he said in the letter, which he shared with Ë®¹ûÅÉAV.

"For the immediate future," Shurtleff continued, "existing mutual aid and new agreements will take the place of AMR’s responses and ensure that the public receives an ambulance when requested."

Shurtleff told Ë®¹ûÅÉAV in October, shortly after AMR informed the county of its exit, that the provider responded to an estimated 3,000 calls annually. However, data shows AMR responded to only 2,436 emergency dispatches in 2022, and 2,813 in 2021. Cancellation rates those years were 44% and more than 30%, respectively. An additional 9.25% of those calls resulted in patient refusals, he said.

Overall, Shurtleff continued, AMR has only been transporting patients an average of four times a day the last few years. Cancellation and refusal data from 2023 is trending in the same direction.

Meanwhile, other EMS providers in Cayuga County responded to 12,380 calls in 2022 compared to AMR's 2,436, Shurtleff said. While losing the provider will mean losing one 24-hour advanced life support unit and one 12-hour ALS unit, the county will retain 12 staffed 24-hour ALS units, another five volunteer ALS or basic life support units, and 10 reserve units based on crew availability.

"Ambulances will continue to respond within Cayuga County," he said. "This situation has been cause for a clear and honest look within to see where some agencies can do more and others cannot."

Still, Shurtleff continued, the situation remains "concerning."

The director of emergency services stressed the need for municipal funding of ambulance agencies, citing rising equipment costs and "stagnant reimbursement rates" — two reasons AMR said it was leaving Cayuga County. The New York State Senate is considering a bill to ambulances as an essential service, which would necessitate that funding, but its passage is not guaranteed.

In the meantime, Shurtleff's office has appealed to the county Legislature for ambulance funding in its 2024 budget, which is being finalized. His office has also shared with local EMS providers information on certificates of need, existing response boundaries and suggested next steps after AMR's exit. In response, several local officials have reached out to providers about preventing disruptions in service. 

Shurtleff ended the letter by encouraging providers to call the county's E-911 center to update their ambulance box alarms, and to request AMR response data for their municipality from his office.

"I encourage each of you to start or continue conversations with your governing bodies to ensure adequate coverage and funding support for EMS in 2024 and beyond," he said. "Going forward, it will take the involvement of local, county and state government to ensure systemic change that will result in sustainable emergency medical services for everyone from Fair Haven to King Ferry."