Colorado's rural ambulance services have been operating at a loss for years, but they may soon reach a breaking point. The Morgan County Ambulance Service gets back just 7 cents an hour on its numerous Medicaid runs and receives nothing for many of the uninsured patients it serves, Michael Booth of The Denver Post reports. The ambulance service receives no tax revenue from the county. Rural counties across the state are hoping for more stable revenue sources to support the emergency services, Booth writes.
"We're acutely aware that rural areas will be struggling more and more," Randy Kuykendall, chief of trauma services for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, told Booth. "At the end of the day, it comes down to local decisions about what level of service they want to maintain." In Morgan County, ambulance director Bob Walter is using a cheaper Chevy Suburban ambulance for many runs. The Suburban is "blown around less than the regular boxy ambulances, can perform all life-saving functions for one patient and save significant money on the Morgan County service's average of six trips a day," Booth reports.
"We're out of ideas, and we're out of cuts," Walter said. "In a year, we're out of funding." In Summit County, some patients have begun a payment plan for $20 a month for five years. Ambulances still serve everyone, but patients on the membership plan receive large discounts on services. "Some local officials ask ambulance services whether they could move to a volunteer system," Booth writes, noting recruiting reliable volunteers is a challenge. "We get lots of four-hour calls," said Morgan County paramedic King. "It's hard to talk your boss into letting you leave for half a day." (Read more)
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