By HOLLY GASKILL
“Healthcare is in general scary. What’s it going to be like in the EMS world in 5-10 years? I don’t know,” said Rick Piepenbrink, CEO of Wells County EMS.
In a financial update to the Wells County Council Tuesday evening, Trent Bucher of Honegger, Ringger and Co. advised that the fund that supports county EMS services is on track for total depletion within the next five years. “It’s coming,” Bucher concluded.
The matter is something county officials have been aware of for years — EMS revenue has remained consistent, but costs continue to grow. A fund established with the sale of the Wells Community Hospital has supported EMS operations, but as the fund has dwindled, the County Council has contributed an additional $100,000 in recent years to help subsidize costs.
According to Bucher, roughly two-thirds of EMS runs are billable, often meaning the individual required transport to a hospital. The other one-third concludes with an individual being cleared medically or seeking other transportation.
Of the billable trips Bucher reported, 65 percent are billed to Medicaid or Medicare, which covers a portion of the cost. “We’ve found that price increases have very little effect on our revenue stream because so many of our ridership is Medicare, Medicaid,” Bucher said.
The council has taken some steps to correct this curve — the EMS fund was discussed as a possible beneficiary of an expected increase in tax revenue due to the reduction of property tax credits last September.
Council member Seth Whicker asked Piepenbrink if Wells should consider following in the footsteps of Allen County, where firefighters are being cross-trained as paramedics.
While Piepenbrink didn’t take the prospect off the table, he expressed multiple concerns with the concept. Namely, the dual positions are compensated at a much higher rate and require greater training in positions that are already difficult to staff. At this time, Piepenbrink said his team is fully staffed.
Council member Vicki Andrews then asked if there was potential to tighten certain line items. Piepenbrink said he had recently been asked the same question by the EMS Advisory Board: “Closing the south station would save $400,000, but nobody wants to do that. I can’t safely cover the county with two ambulances.”
EMS utilizes three stations throughout the county, “one or two going to Fort Wayne at any given time,” Piepenbrink said. Given the time required to make these runs, Piepenbrink said the third vehicle is essential to the county’s emergency services. EMS’s current average response time is seven minutes and 39 seconds, Bucher reported.
Piepenbrink additionally emphasized how closing the station in the southern part of the county would be a significant disservice to residents in that part of the county. However, this doesn’t appear to be a serious consideration at this time.
Nothing further was decided by the council on Tuesday.
holly@news-banner.com
