County amends ordinance on ambulance services

County amends ordinance on ambulance services

Providers will need one year in business before being placed into 911 rotation

news@theeveningtimes.com

New ambulance services who want to do business in Crittenden County will have to wait one year before they can get on the county’s 911 rotation list.

The Quorum Court amended its previous ordinance, which only required new ambulance services to have been in business for a minimum of a year, after local ambulance providers raised concerns that having too many ambulances could force others who have been here longer and have a record of service in the community out of business.

“The Quorum Court wants them to be able to demonstrate that they are capable of providing the service first,” said County Judge Woody Wheeless.

The issue came up after the county decided to upgrade from a rotation system where 911 dispatchers call the next ambulance service in line, to a system where the call will get sent to the closest available ambulance regardless of who the operator is.

Hudson Hallum, owner of Crittenden EMS ambulance service, told the Quorum Court that installing a GPS tracking system will cost ambulance providers in the county several thousand dollars and they want some protection on their investment by instituting tougher guidelines for ambulance operators to get on the rotation.

“If you allow anybody who wants ambulance service to come in, there is only going to be so many ambulance calls that each service is going to get,” Hallum said. “And we are not going to able to keep our doors open. So for us to invest in this (GPS) we feel like there should be some protection for our service and our business.”

Hallum said there are many counties and cities across Arkansas that already have restrictions in place.

West Memphis currently requires ambulance services to have been in operation for one year prior to getting on its 911 rotation list.

“We’ve been in St. Francis County for ten months and are just now getting 911 calls,” Hallum said.

Hallum said ambulance services do not make money on 911 calls.

Last year, Crittenden EMS responded to 5,849 9-1-1 calls. Of that total, 1,383 people were not transported to the hospital which cost the ambulance service about $345,000 in free medical care. Also, about 30 percent of those patients who did have to be transported to the hospital were uninsured which means his company had to absorb those costs.

“I think everyone thinks that ambulance companies are making millions on that,” Hallum said. “That’s not the case. If you call 91-1 and we are the next call in the rotation, we have to go. We are required. If I bill $1,500 I’m lucky if I get $300. If you’re having a heart attack and I perform $4,000 to save you and you don’t have insurance, I have to eat that. But we still have to take that call. We can not decline it. So there is an astronomical cost with operating an ambulance service that the public isn’t aware of that goes in to it.

The reason I am saying this is because there can be too many ambulances services in an area. If you have 50,000 residents in Crittenden County and you allow anybody who owns an ambulance to come in, we’re not going to be able to keep our doors open.”

County 9-1-1- Director Ronnie Sturch said the reason they did not put any operating restrictions in the ordinance is because they were told by Arkansas Association of Counties that you can’t give an unfair advantage to one ambulance service over another.

“If you have an ordinance it has to be for everybody,” Sturch said. “You can’t require one to be in business a year and another not to.

He said he understands about reliability. But if you have a similar service in an adjacent county that has been in business 20 years and they want to come over and operate, why are you saying they aren’t qualified? He didn’t say it couldn’t be done. But he said the one thing we need to be cautioned on is that a government entity can do nothing that restricts or provides an unfair economic advantage to one entity over another.”

Sturch said he agrees that the ambulance services have some legitimate concerns, but Arkansas Association of Counties advised him to bring the issue back to the Quorum Court to decide.

“There are other counties that require services to be in that county,” Sturch said. “But he just said because a county does it doesn’t mean it can be defended in court. So he said go back to the Quorum Court and let them decide if this is something they want to take out.”

Hallum said there is nothing to prevent another ambulance service from opening its doors in Crittenden County now if they choose to.

Ambulances make most of their money on transport calls, so enacting a one year requirement would not block other companies from opening or create an unfair advantage.

“You’re not asking a company if they want to come here that they have to rent a building and pay two crews to sit on the couch and watch TV for a year and do nothing,” Hallum said.

“They have every opportunity to go out and solicit business because there is a ton here. So these people have the opportunity to go out and make money during that time while they establish themselves here. A 9-1-1 rotation is not giving any one ambulance any advantage.”

Hallum said another concern is that a big ambulance service could move in, put the others out of business, and then turn around and ask the county to subsidize the service or risk losing it.

“Shelby County is a prime example,” Hallum said.

“They got down to one private ambulance service who started out asking for a $1.4 million a year subsidy from the county. Then, once the competition was eliminated, they came back and wanted $7 million or they would pack up and leave the county with no ambulance service. This county can not afford to not have ambulance service.

“There are ton of cities and counties in Arkansas that actually pay subsidies for 9-1-1- ambulances to operate in their area. We provide it for free. We don’t ask for subsidies. We never have. We’re all Crittenden County people and we live here. We care about Crittenden County and we provide a service.”

Hallum said there is a real concern that the new Baptist hospital will bring in an ambulance company from out of state.

“I believe in free enterprise. And I believe if you set guidelines and those people meet it then a service should be allowed to come in here,” Hallum said. “ But I do not believe — and I believe I speak on behalf of the other services — that anybody should just be allowed to come in here tomorrow and operate.

They should have to prove they want to be in Crittenden

County.”

Justice Vickie Robertson agreed with Hallum.

The county subsidized ambulance service back in the 1980s and 90s and it was a disaster, she said.

“We had a bunch of ambulances decide to come in and get subsidies,” Robertson said. “When we didn’t subsidize them, some of them went out. So my concern is we want to make sure that we keep people who are going to stay here.

If you say a year in Crittenden County, then it gives us a year to monitor the service that they provide and see whether they have the equipment to handle it. So I personally think this is fair.”

“I do too,” added Justice Lisa O’Neal.

The Quorum Court amended the ordinance to require the one year requirement and also agreed to form a committee to negotiate the fee charged to the ambulance services for the GPS locator service.

The original quote provided by the county to the ambulance service operators was $387 per year per ambulance.

Hallum said he and the other ambulance providers have since been given three different quotes ranging from $900 for three ambulances to $2,972 for six ambulances.

“There is absolutely zero consistency from the company that is doing the GPS system,” Hallum said. “I’m very much in favor of the GPS system, but I would like to see the Judge and the Sheriff talk to them as far as being able to limit the increase in fees that they can charge us a year. I don’t want to see it be $387 one year and then come back and have it increase to $6,000.”

Sturch told the Quorum Court that he is already in talks to get them quotes.

By Mark Randall