New paid ambulance service sees delay

By Rachana Dixit

Published: August 31, 2008

Details for a city-staffed ambulance service are still being worked through, with officials saying everything from billing methods to staffing numbers are completely up in the air.
“There’s really nothing definitive yet,” said Charles Werner, chief of the Charlottesville Fire Department.

The city originally planned to have the ambulance service, which would work alongside the volunteer Charlottesville-Albemarle Rescue Squad, up and running this summer. The City Council in December voted 4-1 to hire six medics, lease-purchase two new ambulances and buy technology to help ambulances reduce response times. Then in March, a tentative agreement was reached to start charging patients for emergency transport later this year.

In this year’s budget, EMS/ambulance operations received $752,925 in city funds. But evolving factors from the original proposal, including new medics hired by Albemarle County and an increase in the volunteer squad’s members, have made area officials reexamine the scope and need of the service.
“Although we have continually spoken [about the service], we are in an early point as to where we want to go from here as a region,” said Dayton Haugh, squad chief of the Charlottesville-Albemarle squad.

The proposal has remained a sensitive issue in part because the area’s all-volunteer rescue squad — which has been in existence for four decades and receives no city funding — has vehemently opposed the service, saying it’s redundant.
Haugh said he thinks the number of volunteers the squad has is adequate. CARS’ membership numbers have steadily increased, and figures from May show the highest number of members at 175.
“Over the last five years it’s continued to go up and up,” he said.
City officials maintain that there’s still a need for the service. A 2007 Matrix Study showed there was a gap in the number of ambulances needed to cover the city and urban ring for Albemarle, citing a need for three and a half staffed ambulances during peak response hours from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. CARS maintains three staffed ambulances with the assistance of two Albemarle County paid medics.
Charlottesville spokesman Ric Barrick said the city continues to grow, and though volunteer numbers show a similar trend, many of them are UVa students who are only here temporarily.

“In two years, four years, they’re gone,” he said.
But recently, the Albemarle County Fire Rescue Division staffed a new ambulance at its Monticello station with two medics. A similar ambulance was also incorporated at the Hollymead Station, which has been running calls since February.
“You constantly have to assess your situation,” said Albemarle Fire Rescue Chief Dan Eggleston.

Billing also remains controversial, which would be implemented to offset the service’s costs. Officials say insurance companies and Medicare would reimburse users, and no one would be denied service because of an inability to pay. The cost per call has not been determined, but officials previously estimated that it would run around $400.
David C. Wyant, a former Albemarle supervisor who sat on the committee that considered a county-paid ambulance, said the county recommended using an outside company to collect and manage the service’s bills. Wyant said officials must make sure residents understand they will not be turned away if they cannot come up with the money.

“I’m still afraid that people might think they can’t receive services because they don’t have insurance,” he said.
Werner said he thinks clearer ideas will manifest in the coming weeks. The key to getting such a service off the ground, officials agreed, is to have all the localities implement the same guidelines for their users.

“The challenge of this whole process is, you’ve got to have at least three [entities] coming together and synchronizing their efforts,” Barrick said.