ELKINS – The Randolph County Ambulance Authority announced Monday afternoon that the Randolph County Emergency Squad will stop making hospital-to-hospital transports from Davis Medical Center as of Friday morning.

The Ambulance Authority made the announcement in a press release sent to The Inter-Mountain after 3:30 p.m. Monday afternoon.

The Inter-Mountain reached out with multiple calls to Vandalia Health Davis Medical Center’s information officers Monday afternoon for a response to the press release, but did not receive a reply by press time.

The Randolph County Ambulance Authority’s Monday afternoon press release reads as follows:

“Starting Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, at 0700 hours, Randolph County Emergency Squad will no longer provide inter-facility hospital transports from Davis Medical Center.

“Several months ago, the CEO and CNO of Vandalia Health – Davis Medical Center approached us to submit a proposal for dedicated ambulance services to transport patients between facilities, including to CAMC, Mon Health, behavioral health centers, and addiction treatment facilities across the state. This proposal included not only Davis Medical Center but also Broaddus and Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hospital.

“We submitted a proposal offering to continue providing transport services solely for Davis Medical Center, consistent with our existing policies and operational capacity. For years, we’ve provided transports within a 100-mile radius, including to cardiology, neurology, and trauma centers. However, as decided by our board over 15 years ago, we do not transport behavioral health patients due to medical necessity concerns and crew safety.

“Following our submission, we were informed that Davis Medical Center was continuing to accept other proposals, with a renewed emphasis on transporting all patient types, including behavioral and addiction medicine cases, and covering all three hospitals.

“After thorough discussion and consideration by our executive board, we made the difficult decision to rescind our proposal. The scope of services requested would have required significant increases in staffing, equipment, and vehicles — all while pulling critical resources away from Randolph County. Some of these transports can keep a crew out of county for five hours or more, which compromises our ability to respond to local 911 emergencies.

“In our rescinding letter, we made it clear that we would continue to support local discharges to nursing homes and residences, in an effort to assist with bed availability and hospital operations. However, we must prioritize our core mission: responding to 911 emergencies in Randolph County and supporting mutual aid requests in surrounding counties.

“A Zoom meeting was held on Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, between our executive board, Mr. Goldberg (VP of Vandalia Health), and Mr. Andro (CEO of Davis Medical Center), to discuss the rescinding of our proposal.

“On Monday, Aug. 11, 2025, Director Kurt Gainer of Randolph County EMS was informed by the CEO of Health Team that they will begin actively recruiting to take over the inter-facility transport services for Davis Medical Center, starting Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, at 0700 hours — the same date we provided as our final day for such services.

“This change comes as a result of increased 911 call volume, rising operational costs, declining reimbursement rates, and the need to keep our personnel available for emergencies within Randolph County.

“We remain fully committed to our community. All three EMS stations in Randolph County will continue to operate 24/7, ensuring you have access to the emergency care you need. With this new change, we anticipate increased flexibility to transport medically stable patients to nearby emergency departments, when resources allow — a service previously limited due to constant long-distance transports.

“Key Points:

Randolph County EMS has never held a formal contract with Davis Medical Center for inter-facility transports.

EMS agencies are not required to provide hospital-to-hospital transport.

Our primary mission is 911 emergency response for Randolph County residents.

“We thank the citizens of Randolph County for your continued support and trust. This decision was not made lightly, but we believe it allows us to serve you — our community — more effectively and efficiently.

“If you have questions, please contact the Randolph County Emergency Squad.

“We are here for you day or night, 24/7.

“Sincerely,

Randolph County Emergency Squad.”