WM fire officials looking at EMS numbers

WM fire officials looking at EMS numbers

Mayor-elect sits in on December Fire Commission meeting By John Rech

ne ws @ thee veningtimes .com

Down, down, down — the fire commission heard EMS collections had dropped for the third straight year.

The city’s ambulance service is not a free ride for citizens. While the Fire Department bills for emergency medical services, many do not pay. Acting Fire Chief Jeff Jones highlighted two reasons for the continued decline: Reduced demand for the ambulance and poor results on collections. It was a one-two punch that combined to push down revenue again in 2018.

Mayor-elect Marco Mc-Clendon and members of the Fire Commission heard the news from Jones, who delivered the data at the commission’s December meeting.

Ambulance collections are not distributed directly into the fire department’s coffers but go to the city’s general fund.

“Year-to-date collections were $210,239,” said Jones.

Councilman Tracy Catt, who heads both the budget and fire commissions, noted the figures and said he wanted to get budget numbers in line with reality.

“If you look at the bottom line, you can see how it has dropped three years in a row, and we have $375,000 on the budget line which has proven unrealistic,” said Catt.

Councilwoman Ramona Taylor wondered about people not paying their bills.

“So, why does it keep dropping? Was it people that were insured a few years ago not insured now?” asked Taylor.

EMS Division Chief Chris Brogdon pointed to the overdue bills sent to the collection agency. The fire department has retained a new collection agency — the first since relying on the services of Crittenden Memorial which closed four years ago.

“There were four people at the hospital doing the billing,” said Brogdon.

“Now we have one doing the billing, the collections and everything about it.

It has not been feasible to get three more people to do the billing. That along with reduction in insurance payments — Medicaid and Medicare money don’t pay like they used to.”

Chief Jones pointed to the rise in private ambulance services available for a reason for the drop in demand an held hopes for the new Baptist Memorial Hospital that recently opened in West Memphis.

“The number of runs is down with the other agencies there to back us up,” said Catt.

“We will see how the opening of the new hospital effects this,” said Jones.

Taylor looked at the billing and collection process. Catt wanted the new collection agency to have a full year before considering other options. “We transferred the collections over and maybe give that a year,” said Catt.

The mayor-elect mulled the possibility of adding medic positions to the department roster. Despite the decline in runs, McClendon noted sometimes the city runs out of ambulances.

“I discovered Memphis is hiring strictly paramedics where they do not have to fight fires,” said Mc-Clendon. “What would be the issues with the ISO 1 rating?”

Chief Jones was familiar with the single role medic positions across the river.

“If we hired them in, it would have to be extra staffing because the number we have on staff now is the bare-bones minimum we have to have for the ISO standing,” said Jones.

“I like the single role medic position in Memphis, it would be awesome. They are thinking outside of the box in Memphis.”

The EMS Chief laid out additional staffing requirements to operate a third ambulance in the city.

“If you want to hire people to do it, you’d have to do six new medics,” said Brogdon.

The Fire Department asked for a $921,000 increase in the 2019 budget before McClendon expressed interest in another ambulance. The difference was to offset competitive wage increases, new equipment and needed repair’s at two firehouses on the east side of town. City Council will finalize all department budget requests in January.