City, County Discuss Ambulance Services in Joint Work Session

Las Cruces City Council met Monday, March 10, 2025, in a joint work session with Dona Ana County Commissioners to receive updates on ambulance services and opioid settlement funds.

Councilors and commissioners heard from Stephen Lopez, assistant county manager, and Brad Douglas, city attorney, about the ambulance service provided by American Medical Response. The City contracts with AMR for ambulance services while the County leases its ambulance license, its certificate of need, to AMR.

The City and County are alleging that AMR has consistently failed to meet response-time standards throughout the life of the agreement.

Lopez said that in the last quarter of 2024, Dona Ana County Fire Rescue had to transfer an average of 225 patients each month because AMR was unable to do so. Because the County leased its ambulance license to AMR, the county was unable to bill insurance companies an annual average of $1.4 million.

Douglas explained that ambulance service calls that do not meet response-time requirements are subject to liquidated damages. The damages would be payable to the County at the end of the fiscal year.

The current alleged liquidated damages are $450,000 for Quarter 1, $973,000 for Quarter 2 and $867,000 for Quarter 3. Douglas said 2,607 calls for service in Quarter 2 were considered late. Douglas said AMR can still contest alleged late calls from the second and third quarters but, so far, has only requested exemption in 283 calls from Quarter 2.

The City’s contract administrator may determine that a material breach has occurred, and public health and safety are endangered. If that happens, AMR will be given a reasonable opportunity to correct the breach.

Douglas outlined an emergency takeover clause if there is non-compliance for six months in a proceeding 12-month period, then the Ambulance Oversight Committee can recommend the City take over operations of AMR services. If the Ambulance Oversight Committee concurs with the contract administrator, emergency takeover by the City can occur within 72 hours of that finding.

City attorneys will send a letter to AMR asking how they plan to remediate any issues pertaining to response times. If emergency takeover provisions are deemed necessary, the City and County will prepare to handle ambulance services in-house. AMR can terminate the agreement, without cause, as soon as July 1, 2025.

City Councilors and County Commissioners also received an update on the distribution of settlement funds anticipated in the wake of the 2021 nationwide opioids settlements. The 2021 nationwide settlements were reached to resolve opioids litigations brought by states and local governments against pharmaceutical distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson, and against manufacturer Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and its parent company Johnson & Johnson. The distributors will pay up to $21 billion over 18 years to state and local governments while Johnson & Johnson will pay up to $5 billion over a nine-year period.

The governing boards of Las Cruces and Dona Ana County met to hear from the advisory council that was established to determine how the local funding should be utilized. Dona Ana County will receive about $14.5 million while the City of Las Cruces will receive $9.8 million from the settlement.
Of the nine core strategies created to guide how settlement funds can be used, the advisory council recommended narrowing the strategies to four:

• Medication assisted treatment including specialized care for pregnant/postpartum women and infants, patient and provider education about substance use disorder and treatment, and 24/7 access to treatment.
• Warm hand-off program/recovery services including focus on transitions of care from emergency room discharge to follow-up services.
• Prevention programs including universal screening for families, youth and pregnant women and a campaign to help reduce the stigma of opioid use disorder.
• Data collection and research.

Both governing boards will next have to decide on how best to utilize the funds and if they should establish a trust fund to help manage, and possibly grow, the proceeds.

Following the joint City/County meeting, City Councilors received an update on the Las Cruces Museums’ Master Plan. Quality of Life Director Carol Brey and Deputy Director of Museums Garland Courts shared the advances the Museums have made over the last four years.

In 2021, the Museums’ Master Plan and Short-range Plan were completed and approved by City Council. The Master Plan focuses on identity stewardship and functionality of the museums while the short-range plan gives clear vision, goals and priorities.

In the last few years, the Museums have:

• Increased exhibits focused on borderland issues.
• Sought grants to help with outreach and exhibits.
• Introduced “Access,” a quarterly magazine produced by Quality of Life.
• Promoted more diverse speakers to help enhance exhibits.
• Worked collaboratively with New Mexico State University, NASA and the Bureau of Land Management to share exhibits important to southern New Mexico.

The Museums have seen a steady increase in visitors since 2021 with more than 125,000 people attending exhibits or programs in 2024.

Monday’s work sessions, along with all City Council regular meetings and work sessions, can be viewed on the City’s YouTube channel.

City Councilors will next meet at 1 p.m. Monday, March 17, in a regular meeting in Council Chambers, 700 N. Main St.