By Nancy McCleary
The Sanford Herald
LEE COUNTY, N.C. — The Lee County commissioners agreed to begin working on a contract awarding the emergency medical services franchise to MedEx Medical Transport.
FirstHealth of the Carolinas holds the current franchise contract and hoped to have that renewed, but the board opted to go in another direction at a Friday workshop after considering proposals presented by each at board meetings in October and November.
| MORE: Sepsis math: Every hour = 8% closer to the morgue
Lee County staff will begin working on a franchise contract and schedule a first reading and public hearing on the ordinance in January with a vote tentatively scheduled for February.
FirstHealth, based in Pinehurst, was initially contracted for service in 2022 at a cost of $989,850, according to Kirk Smith , chair of the commissioners.
The cost has increased each year with the 2025-26 contract costing $1,104,794, he said. That cost has been projected to reach $20.9 million for the 2026-27 fiscal year.
MedEx, headquartered in Ahoskie, submitted a bid of about $8.2 million, which is $12 million less. MedEx provides ambulance services in multiple counties with an operation station set up in Forsyth County , according to Executive Director Dillon Lowe . Services include emergency calls, medical transport and disaster response services. It employs more than 400 people and has a fleet of more than 100 vehicles.
In September, the Emergency Medical Services Advisory Committee recommended that the franchise agreement remain with FirstHealth after meeting with representatives from both services.
Concerns were raised about the quality of care that MedEx could provide and the ability to provide adequate coverage for the area.
Mary Hawley Oates, a member of the Advisory Committee, spoke Friday and said members stood by their initial recommendation.
“MedEx has a lower cost, but questions remain about quality (of care) and response times,” Oates said.
“Emergency situations have a lot of unknowns. If they’re not doing that every day, do they know how to respond?” Hawley asked. “Our job was to select the vendor to provide the best service.”
The contract with FirstHealth remains in effect for another 10 months.
© 2025 The Sanford Herald (Sanford, N.C.).
Visit www.sanfordherald.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
