By LARRY PARNASS
(JUNE 9) -- American Medical Response Inc. is now responsible for 60 percent of all ambulance services in Massachusetts. Nationwide, it operates in 34 states, has 22,000 employees and handles 14 percent of all the emergency and non-emergency calls in the U.S.That's not bad for a company founded in 1992.
The growth has been rapid, and this year, with its acquisition by Laidlaw Inc., it has drawn the notice of government regulators.
The state Department of Health has said the public should be aware of the consolidation trend. The merger, though, was approved by the Federal Trade Commission.
David Mulligan, commissioner of the state health department, has said the merger results in "an incredible concentration of ambulance service, in an allegedly competitive health-care system."
Though it was acquired by Laidlaw Inc., for $1.2 billion, AMR's name was retained. Rather than swallow up the identity of its new holding, Laidlaw folded in its own ambulance businesses, including MedTrans, based in California.
The AMR name has gone up on vehicles run by dozens of Laidlaw companies, from coast to coast.
The combined business will have revenues this year of $1.3 billion, according to "Response," a company newsletter.
AMR's founders, Paul Verrochi and Dominic Puopolo had a simple idea that's earned them millions.
They set out to acquire small, poorly managed ambulance companies that could be made more efficient, and more profitable.
Their quest brought them to Northampton last year, when AMR acquired Northampton Ambulance.
Northampton Ambulance was formed in 1989, when Michael R. Wheeler of Pittsfield, on an acquisition plan of his own, bought the former Pioneer Ambulance, based on Michelman Avenue, from Nicholas Phelps. Wheeler at the time also operated Berkshire Ambulance Services.
The new Northampton Ambulance took over a city contract in 1989 from the Bay State Ambulance Co., which had received no public subsidy and had been losing money, its owner said at the time.