Re: [TEXAS_EMS] Metrocare is gone

[Guest guest]

I've got friends going through the Acadian buyout of Metrocare right

now. I'm not an employee of either, but I'm watching with interest.

I've researched quite a few of the larger, private EMS services - the

two notables being AMR and Rural-Metro (who is also involved in

private fire service) and some of the offshore/overseas groups. My

primary interest has been their motivation as a business.

You look at Texas, particularly the Houston area, and you can see that

many of the private EMS services that have popped up have a primary

concern of profit and the profit goes to the owners. You look at AMR

and R/M, and you see that the profit motive is focused on

stockholders.

Then you look at more rural areas, where governments can't fund EMS.

Private services there are often incroporated as non-profits, and

while they have to operate in the black, their primary concern is

funding the operation with the income received, not making owners

rich. They generally strive to provide as much care as possible with

the funding they receive, and understand that what they can do is

better than the nothing they would otherwise have.

Then there's Acadian, a different sort of beast. Private company, but

with a focus on employee ownership. This concept works WELL in

corporate america because it creates a sense of buy-in from the

employee, puts part of the responsibility for the company's growth

directly on their shoulders. This seems to have created an

environment where employees, as a collective, understand that spending

money on things like training and employee development has a

longer-term payoff, rather than paying themselves a higher wage,

etc... that the long-term growth of the company year-over-year has

more financial value than the short-term gains they could otherwise

chase. What this also seems to create is a longer-term mentality with

regards to employees... employees that I've talked to tend not to see

Acadian as a stepping stone or " employer, " but as a career path.

It'll be interesting to watch.

The one thing I hear consistently from people in the Houston and

Austin area is that mergers are not their specialty - that

communications are lacking with regards to keeping employees informed

of what's happening, and that employees of companies that are being

bought are often left in the dark or provided little if any valuable

information. Not all of this is Acadian's fault - it's primarily the

responsibility of the owners of the business being bought - the

primary employer for the current medics. Being EMS, those owners are

not often well trained in M & A and corporate communications, so there's

a large gap. If I could make one recommendation to Acadian (and who

knows why they should listen to me... this is more a " what it "

statement), it would be to consider developing a stronger corporate

M & A/communications group, especially if Acadian plans to continue

expanding in Texas. Stronger communications and a well-developed

plan/timeline for M & A moves would not only make it easier, but less

expensive (i.e. " more profitable " ) and would better leverage the

knowledge of the local staff being absorbed.

A primary example is with the Metrocare acquisition. Metrocare

employees were working schedules that had a large amount of scheduled

overtime - on the order of 40 hours of overtime every two weeks.

Acadian, however, is on a different schedule with less overtime (for

obvious reasons, overtime is expensive from a management point of

view). Metrocare employees were accustomed to an annual wage that

included their scheduled overtime. With Acadian, even with a higher

hourly rate, most employees are losing money - up to 25 or 30% of

their former annual wage. So they make more per hour, but less per

year... and that wasn't clearly communicated to employees. The flip

side, however, is that Acadian offers benefits and perks that weren't

available to folks at Metrocare, so it's a trade-off, and likely a

short-term one. The Austin market typically pays higher wages than

elsewhere in the state, and it's likely that Acadian will make a rate

adjustment if they intend to attract the quality of medic they

otherwise seem to attract.

Then again, I could be wrong... just my rambling thoughts from a

business perspective.

Mike

>

> Acadian is an ESOP company, you get shares. In fact today was my one year

anniversary with Acadian. I worked the very first shift Acadian ever did in

Texas. I loved my old employer, but Acadian has taken care of me and treated me

so well. When they first came in I wasn't happy I could no longer goto work for

my old company (and they were not bought out). Acadian came over let us tour

their HQ and other Dept like their National EMS Academy, their fleet

maintenance, their HUGE dispatch center. EVERYONE I have met has been nothing

but nice and more than willing to help out with anything you need. Acadian came

in took over 911 in our county (Orange) cuz the company I worked for was no

longer able to stay open due to financial reasons. They came in hired any of us

who wanted to work for them cuz they knew they need people from the area to

make it work. These guys have their own National EMS academy, build their own

trucks, and really do give a shit about their employees. Our medical director

e-mailed me and congratulated me on my one year anniversary. The pay is great

for it being a private service (Medics starting out at $16/hr and I believe

they still have a hire on bonus with 2yr contract ), they are very big in to

the safety of their employees ( they about to start buying Stryker Hydraulic

Stretchers for the units). and the list goes on and on. By no means am I trying

to shove Acadian down anyone's throat but when you have a private company that

has been around since 1971 and have people that have been there for over 30

years and have people retiring from the company, they have to be doing something

right. (you just don't hear of people retiring from a private ambulance

company). They have in operation over 200+ units a day not including helicopters

fixed wings and off shore divisions. I have been in EMS for 10yrs now. I'm just

now going to get my EMT-P Acadian is putting through a accelratered class of

theirs. Not only are they paying for the class they are paying me to go to

class and paying me while I do clinicals. (that's a first for me) They took me

off a truck so I don't have to worry about trying to work and class and

clinicals. With this class they teach it's 6 months long but the pass

percentage for it is in the mild 90s opposed to a traditional class, which if I

remember correctly is in the 70s. And this guy , I know him personally

and he is on the level. He won't BS you about anything. And if you want to know

about Acadian he is the man to talk to.