EMS crisis: Local leaders may want to look at Lancaster County | News, Sports, Jobs

Ken Hellendall’s speech to municipal leaders in Clinton County recently was direct and to the point: Rural Pennsylvania if facing a crisis in emergency medical services, or EMS.

Hellendall is an EMS peer consultant and director of the Cheltenham EMS in Philadelphia. He spoke to the well-attended Clinton County Association of Township Officials and The Express covered the event.

His timing is key: There is an EMS crisis in Western Clinton County and it’s spreading to other areas here. A coalition is studying the problem and working to find solutions.

Fewer people and less money are the reasons.

Across Pennsylvania, Hellendall said, EMS services are diminishing due to lack of volunteers, fewer paid EMTs, a lack of sustainable funding and below cost reimbursements from insurance companies.

According to Hellendall, from an analysis of a suburban EMS service, each EMS call results in a $187 net deficit. The calls are added with the average payment from insurance — $343 — and cost of out of the door ambulances per call — $530 — equaling the net deficit of $187 per call.Yet, we really don’t see a whole lot being done at the state level to help.

According to Hellendall, 15.4 percent of Clinton County’s population is on Medicaid; 13.8 percent of the county’s population is on Medicare.

“Since 2002, after implementing the Medicare Ambulance Fee Schedule, costs have risen 70 percent while reimbursement rates have risen only 27 percent. It’s a big difference,” Hellendall said.

Eighty percent of all payers pay significantly less than the cost of EMS operations ($530 per call) with average NET from Medicare, Medicaid and Self-Pay of $253.

“That is going on all over… It is rural counties like Clinton where it is worse than it is in other areas like down our way (Philadelphia). We have many more available squads down there and less drive time,” Helledall said.

That means it’s a local problem so local municipalities must find solutions.

EMS agencies deserve a robust funding by members. They also deserve stronger reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid.

Lives are at stake, for heavens sake.

And why not include a basic first-aid and/or something akin to EMT courses in our high schools to peak kids’ interests?

We encourage area leaders to take a look at something underway in Lancaster County, where eight townships and boroughs are forming a Municipal Emergency Services Authority with the power to determine services and fees.

Taking matters into their own hands, Conoy, East Donegal, Elizabeth, Mount Joy, Penn and West Donegal are joining Elizabethtown and Marietta boroughs are trying to take matters into their own hands to make sure critical EMS services are ongoing and sustainable.

It’s like Hellendall said: Together, fire departments, EMS departments, municipal governments, county governments, volunteers and career/paid staff have to work together. The fix will involve the fire departments, EMS, county government, volunteers and most importantly, municipal government.

The group plans a public hearing this summer. We’ll be watching.