Founded in 1992 through the consolidation of several well-established regional ambulance companies, AMR has grown with more than 200 acquisitions.

Changes in health care reimbursement, new technology demands, and the growth of managed care plans contributed to the rationale and need to build a large provider network that has resulted in the industry’s best practices. Our abilities to draw upon economies of scale benefit our customers.
In the first quarter of 2005, Management and Onex Partners L.P formed EMS L.P. to purchase AMR and EmCare from Laidlaw International Inc. Onex Corporation is a diversified company with annual consolidated revenues of approximately $16 billion and consolidated assets of approximately $13 billion. Onex is one of Canada 's largest companies with global operations in service, manufacturing and technology industries. Its healthcare investments include Magellan Health Services, Inc., Res-Care Inc. and Center for Diagnostic, Inc. Onex's objective is to create long-term value by building industry-leading business.

AMR was acquired by Laidlaw International in 1996, becoming a subsidiary of North America's largest provider of school and inter-city bus transportation, municipal and para-transit bus transportation, health care transportation and emergency management service. Laidlaw’s 95,000 employees provide services to passengers and patients from nearly 4,000 locations in the United States and Canada.

In February of 1997, AMR merged with Med Trans, becoming the largest ambulance service provider in the U.S.
Through the years, AMR has made many significant contributions to the field of emergency medical services. The following is a few of these contributions:

• On September 11, 2001, AMR was involved in multi-state, long-term rescue and recovery efforts of victims at the World Trade Center.
• In 1998, AMR’s New Haven, Connecticut, Communications Center was the first call center in the nation to be accredited as a Center of Excellence by the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch (NAED), one of the industry’s “gold” standards. Since then, six other AMR centers have been accredited (the most recent in 2003).
• AMR’s Denver Communications Center was the first call center in the nation to receive NAED certification three consecutive times.
• In 1995, AMR was Oklahoma City’s contracted provider during the Murrah Federal Building bombing with our paramedics and EMTs first on the scene to rescue and treat victims. Drawing upon our experience handling that disaster, AMR developed recommendations for cities and counties on how to strengthen their preparedness. Company representatives testified before Congress and shared their recommendations with the Federal Emergency Management Institute (FEMA). AMR received commendations in the Congressional Record for our work both during and after the bombing.
• In 1995, AMR’s operation in Mississippi was the first entity to earn accreditation from the Commission on the Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS) without a single deficiency — another of the industry’s “gold” standards. Since then, 11 other AMR facilities have attained accreditation.
• In 1992, AMR established one of the nation’s first secondary

Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) in Modesto, California.
While ambulances are the most visible part of our service, we do much more than transport people in sophisticated vehicles. As the face of health care has changed, AMR has adapted to the needs of our customers, providing innovative on-site medical care at national parks, theme parks, and industrial health care to large businesses. We also offer many highly specialized services, including partnerships with fixed-wing medical transportation services, helicopter medical transportation service support, and medical dispatching for other providers, including public safety agencies. Medical needs are often very specialized, and we tailor our services to meet our customers’ needs.

American Medical Response works with health care research companies to develop new and innovative services, such as cardiac case management with remote heart monitoring. We also work with manufacturing organizations to improve the design of medical equipment, such as head immobilizers and gurneys.

AMR’s non-hospital services now include pre-hospital care research, standby contracts and on-site medical staffing; 24-hour medical call-taking and dispatch services; specialty response teams; community education; EMS training courses, and clinical data collection, warehousing, analysis, and reporting.