Bastrop, Texas – September 18, 2025

The Bastrop County ESD #3 (District) reports significant progress toward a long-term EMS service delivery model.    In November 2025, voters approved the establishment of the District to fund and oversee the development of a timely, reliable, and clinically appropriate EMS service for Bastrop County.  The Board was appointed by Commissioners Court and met for the first time in early January 2025.   Since that time, the Board has made tremendous progress to enhance the current system as it builds for the future.  The following is a recap of progress over the past nine months.

From the outset, it was clear that many in the community desired to see EMS transitioned from a contracted relationship with a private provider to a District operated EMS service.  At that time, the County held the soon to expire contract with Acadian Ambulance.   In five short months, the contract would expire if not renegotiated and extended.  

An extension was the only viable alternative in the short-term.  Transitioning to a District operated EMS agency would require a complete build from the ground up, including acquiring ambulances, hiring staff and purchasing all the capital, durable and disposable supplies.  The primary limitation was acquiring ambulances.   Delivery of new ambulances ranged from 18-24 months at that time.   Complicating matters, the District would not have sufficient funding to take on the challenge for at least twelve months.

With four months, the County and Acadian agreed to transition the expiring contract to the District.   Concurrently, the board was negotiating with Acadian to extend the contract through September 2026, the earliest possible date the District could potentially take over as the direct EMS service provider.  

In June, the Board implemented the following:

• One additional 24-hour ambulance and two additional 12-hour ambulances.    At peak time, seven ambulances are available in the community versus the four previously deployed.
• A 24-hour critical care, clinical supervisor.   This role is available to support the ambulance crews with critical patients, provide leadership on multi-patient scenes within the unified incident command system, quality improvement activities and crew education among other duties.
• Complete revision of response time standards, shortening the expectation for many communities by as much as ten minutes with penalties for non-compliance.
• Implementation of nationally endorsed clinical quality measures that are evidenced-based to improve patient outcomes.
• Implementation of communication standards that are intended to better support our first responders and ambulance crews with safer and better coordinated responses.

The renegotiated contract is unlike any other contract in Acadian’s portfolio.  No other governmental authority has placed such rigorous standards as a condition of their contract.   Acadian has begun reporting performance data under the new standards.  While compliance to the new, stricter standards is not where we want it to be, there is definitive evidence that many areas of the county have seen improved response times and compliance against the old standard is greatly improved.   The District and Acadian will continue to assess and adjust to optimize system performance. 

The District is moving as fast as possible to ensure Bastrop County has timely, reliable, clinically appropriate EMS service that promotes excellent patient outcomes in a financially responsible manner.   

The District will endeavor to keep the community informed as progress is made with a commitment to transparency on the system’s performance and activities to improve service delivery.    The current contract with Acadian runs through September 2026 with an option to extend on a month-to-month basis if needed to get to a long-term solution.   The runway to implement a long-term solution The board anticipates making a decision in the next 30-45 days.