Cost of EMS

PotatoMedic

Has no idea what I'm doing.
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And then they don't even want emt's.
 

Jim37F

Forum Deputy Chief
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And then they want volunteers because they can't afford them, but still pay the police officers, the garbage men, the mayor sure isnt giving up their paychecks to save money....
 

StCEMT

Forum Deputy Chief
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Every municipality wants paramedics, right up til it’s time to pay for paramedics. https://fox43.com/2019/12/12/the-cost-of-emergency-medical-services/
On the flip side, so many fire departments wants everyone to be a paramedic. They could save money by getting rid of that standard.

I've always viewed having a supervisor as a luxury, but also the extent of extra ALS I would want. I am perfectly fine with our set up and resources. Having 4-5 medics on scene just feels like it would be too much.
 
OP
OP
NomadicMedic

NomadicMedic

I know a guy who knows a guy.
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Where I am in Pennsylvania, it is very different. Municipalities sign a letter of agreement to have an agency provide primary 911 service. The municipalities usually don’t pay more than a small stipend to each agency. The EMS agencies are forced to rely on billing, and if you’re in an area with a crummy payor mix… You’re SOL.

We recently went toe to toe with another agency that was looking to take away a portion of our 911 territory. It became pretty acrimonious. Response times, service promises, lots of public outcry… We managed to keep the territory, but had to provide additional services that will cost us more money
 

SandpitMedic

Crowd pleaser
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Jeeze.
 

SandpitMedic

Crowd pleaser
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Where I am in Pennsylvania, it is very different. Municipalities sign a letter of agreement to have an agency provide primary 911 service. The municipalities usually don’t pay more than a small stipend to each agency. The EMS agencies are forced to rely on billing, and if you’re in an area with a crummy payor mix… You’re SOL.

We recently went toe to toe with another agency that was looking to take away a portion of our 911 territory. It became pretty acrimonious. Response times, service promises, lots of public outcry… We managed to keep the territory, but had to provide additional services that will cost us more money
This is a thing in a lot of different places. Everyone vying for their piece of the pie. It is a shame that it is motivated by dollars rather than serving the public.
 
OP
OP
NomadicMedic

NomadicMedic

I know a guy who knows a guy.
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You have no idea. Worse, there was a BLS " quick response service" that was also trying to carve out a chunk. They could barely staff their service on a good day and they wanted to be the primary transport agency. They attempted to merge with another service and that went badly. They just closed their doors... But somehow that's our agency's fault. We "drove them out of business".

PA EMS is a strange beast.
 

Kevinf

Forum Captain
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PA EMS is a strange beast.

The 911-only company I worked for had been covering the same township for 50+ years. A few years back another agency wanted to take over the municipal contract. So instead of the usual price of $350,000 or so, the contract was driven down to $30,000 or so by bidding plus an agreement to purchase all new ambulances that year. The company that wanted to take over is famous for lacking coverage of what they are already responsible for and for focusing on IFT ahead of 911.

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Meanwhile, you easily can make more starting out at a Sheetz than starting out as an EMT. 😐
 

DrParasite

The fire extinguisher is not just for show
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PA is likely in the same position that NJ is in; historically, EMS was provided free of charge from it's inception by volunteer EMS agencies, all too often funded by donations.... As donations decreased, call volumes increased, and educational standards increased, the need to set up a better funding model became necessary. Unfortunately, the AHJ (either the municipality or county) experienced sticker shock on what it would cost to actually run a decent system, so they balked, and looked for a lowest bidder option. OR, they would just have the FD do it, and give the money to a different municipal agency that wanted to do EMS as an add on, instead of running the system as a fully functional EMS system and dedicated their resources to being the best EMS system possible.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: you can't expect or provide grade A service with grade C funding, and at the end of the day, you get what you pay for.
 
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