By Gordon Anderson | gordon@rantnc.com
A deal for the provision of emergency medical transport service between Lee County Government and Ahoskie-based ambulance company MedEx has fallen apart less than three months before it was set to begin.
The Lee County Board of Commissioners selected MedEx in late 2025 to receive the county’s franchise for emergency medical transport beginning in July 2026, and began negotiations with the company shortly thereafter. MedEx would have taken the job over from FirstHealth of the Carolinas, which has held the franchise since 2021.
But as the months dragged on without a signed contract, speculation became common – particularly within the EMS community – that the two sides had been unable to finalize a deal.
That speculation was borne out when MedEx issued a statement on Thursday to Curious Scout Media saying “the parties remain(ed) apart on provisions that MedEx believes are essential to ensuring operational stability, financial certainty, and the consistent delivery of high-emergency services” and that county staff had “indicated that no further changes would be considered.” Just after noon on Friday, the county issued a statement saying the two sides were “unable to reach an agreement on the negotiated terms,” that “MedEx ultimately indicated that they could not agree to the terms the County felt were essential” and that “it became apparent that we were not going to find common ground on these outstanding issues, and negotiations could not proceed further.”
The failure to reach terms is the latest twist in a story that’s been unfolding for months. The Board of Commissioners first picked MedEx for negotiations in late 2025 after the company proposed to serve the county’s emergency transport needs for $8.2 million – more than $12 million less than the $20.9 million bid given by FirstHealth.
An advisory committee appointed by the county had recommended earlier in the year that the county stick with FirstHealth.
In November, The Rant reported that MedEx’s experience with regards to emergency transport may not have been quite as represented. MedEx had claimed during the bidding process and in public hearings that it was a “primary” or “co primary” provider of emergency medical service in Forsyth County, but documents at the time showed the company is actually a nonemergency provider only authorized to perform emergency medical transport when specifically designated by that county. MedEx did not respond to multiple requests for comment on that story.
The commissioners stuck with MedEx after another meeting in December.
Both the county and MedEx described their own negotiations as “in good faith” in their statements. Lee County’s statement didn’t identify any of the “outstanding issues” that led to the breakdown, but MedEx CEO Dillon Lowe told the Curious Scout that the county wanted provisions “that could let the county suspend payments without clear standards” and “expand staffing and reporting requirements.” Lowe’s statement also said MedEx had invested more than $1 million ahead of the contract’s start to acquire ambulances and hire new staff.
Lee County will still require an emergency medical transport provider beginning in July. Their statement indicated “the County is actively continuing its efforts to enter into an agreement with another provider to ensure that our community’s needs are met without interruption.”