Ambulance company ending WA service, including Fife office; more than 100 jobs to be cut

An area emergency medical service company has filed closure plans for its two Washington state offices with the State Employment Security Department.

According to the state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, Falck Northwest Corp.’s layoffs begin Dec. 15, affecting 123 workers.

Falck Northwest’s Washington offices are in Mountlake Terrace and Fife.

A media representative for Falck USA blamed economic trends for the shutdown in a statement sent via email to The News Tribune in response to questions.

“Faced with the reality of insurance reimbursements that do not cover our cost of providing service, together with current trends in inflation and a tight labor market, Falck Northwest made the difficult decision to cease our interfacility ambulance operations in Washington state,” wrote Jeff Lucia, director of marketing and communications for the company.

Lucia noted the Washington offices “make up Falck’s sole operation nationwide that performs only interfacility transport. All of Falck’s other U.S. operations provide 911 emergency service.”

He added, “While 911 services provide sufficient revenue to cover the cost of operations, in the current economic situation, with dramatic increases in fuel prices and numerous other costs, IFT transports do not generate enough reimbursement from Medicare, Washington Apple Health (Medicaid), and insurance carriers to sustain IFT-only operations.”

According to Lucia, Falck is working closely with area hospitals and local ambulance providers ”to minimize any disruption to nonemergency ambulance transport services.”

“We appreciate the dedication of our approximately 100 front-line personnel in Washington, and we are working to help find continued employment for them with local EMS providers or transfers to other Falck operations,” he added.

He noted, “Like the broader healthcare industry and countless other EMS providers serving communities across the U.S., Falck has been impacted by the nationwide shortage of personnel such as paramedics and EMTs. This shortage affects both public and contracted EMS providers.”

The most recent posting about the company, Sept. 14, on GlassDoor, a site where employees can post anonymous reviews, noted closure of the company’s state operations. Some reviewers cited low pay and staff shortages.

The state received the company’s notification Sept. 16.

Falck Northwest began offering medical transportation services in the Puget Sound area in 2012, according to its website. Services include basic and advanced life support, critical care transport and alternative transportation for hospitals, clinics and extended-care facilities, “requiring non-emergency, interfacility transportation,” the company noted.

The company has operated in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties.

In 2015, Falck Northwest expanded to include Salem, Oregon, supporting the Salem Fire Department and Salem area, according to the website.

Falck operates in 30 countries, and has more than 30,000 employees with headquarters in Denmark, according to its LinkedIn profile.

“Unlike many ambulance services in the U.S. that are backed by private equity firms, Falck’s majority owner is a healthcare-research foundation based in Denmark,” Lucia wrote.

It’s the second time in less than a week that the company has made headlines in the western United States.

The San Diego Union Tribune reported Sept. 17 that Falck operations there were facing hefty fines over poor response times. The company said it would implement mandatory overtime shifts later this month amid a paramedic shortage and would retool its work at the U.S.-Mexico border.