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Med Center Health Files Lawsuit Against Cabinet for Health and Family Services As “Last Resort” Over Emergency Regulation

Med Center Health announced Monday that it has filed a lawsuit against the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to stop an emergency regulation involving ambulance services. The Cabinet issued the regulation on September 25, clearing the way for an additional ambulance provider to address what the Cabinet wrongly calls a “public health crisis” in Warren County. Cabinet officials have since refused to meet with Med Center Health or Warren County Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon regarding the matter.

This was our last resort,” said Wade Stone, Executive Vice President of Med Center Health. “The Cabinet left us no choice when it refused our request to simply have a conversation. We had hoped that a ‘public health crisis’ would warrant a meeting. It certainly seemed reasonable to us.”

Med Center Health has owned and operated Medical Center EMS for nearly forty years. It is the only ambulance service in Kentucky accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS) and recognized as an Accredited Center of Excellence (ACE) through the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch (IAED). Medical Center EMS received the 2018 Mission Lifeline: EMS Gold Award from the American Heart Association as well as the 2018 Award of Excellence for Pediatric Emergency Care.

According to Stone, Med Center Health is concerned about how the emergency regulation came to pass. “We know the Pegasus Institute released a study that contained significant errors and misleading conclusions while focusing much of its attention on Warren County. We know the Cabinet issued an emergency regulation that only affects two counties in the entire state, Warren being one of those. We know that TriStar Greenview filed a Certificate of Need application for a new ambulance service before the emergency regulation was published on the state’s website. And now we know the Cabinet won’t talk to us.”

Stone said Medical Center EMS will continue to meet the needs of Warren County with the same award-winning service patients have come to expect.  “We sincerely appreciate everyone’s support,” said Stone. “Our crews will continue to provide professional, compassionate care in a timely manner. We’ll let Franklin Circuit Court figure the rest out.”

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