Lawmakers in New Jersey are expected to vote today on a bill that would award control of emergency medical service in Camden to Cooper University Hospital.
The bill would give Level 1 trauma centers exclusive rights to run EMS services in their cities. It would allow Cooper University Hospital to take over all ambulance and paramedic service in the city of Camden. Virtua Health System -- a competitor of Cooper in South Jersey -- currently runs EMS service in the small city.
Two Level 1 trauma systems further north in New Jersey, University Hospital in Newark and Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick, both already have contracts to run EMS in their cities. But for more than three decades, Virtua has had Camden's contract.
Virtua officials haves argued that the bill is at attempt to bypass state regulations for assigning paramedics, but Cooper has said its staff is best equipped to serve the city's needs and could streamline health care by taking over EMS there. Paramedic and EMS services in the rest of Camden County will continue to be run by Virtua if the bill passes.
