As part of establishing an integrated ambulance service in Newfoundland and Labrador, the Department of Health and Community Services has awarded three consulting contracts totaling approximately $581,500.

• Healthcare Strategists has been awarded a contract valued at $300,500 to provide technical and research advisory services for the procurement of ambulance services;

• LifeFlight of Maine has been awarded a contract valued at approximately $246,000 for helicopter emergency medical service planning to inform future decision making on the design of the overall emergency air ambulance system; and

• RFP Solutions has been awarded a contract valued at $35,000 as a fairness advisor and will provide services as an independent third party overseeing and monitoring the procurement of ambulance services.

The province allocated $9 million to begin the consolidation of 60 separate road ambulance services into a single, integrated service with a centralized approach. This aligns with the recommendation of Health Accord NL to “design one provincial, modern, integrated air and road ambulance system with a central medical dispatch” as one of the essential elements of a reimagined health system.