A “treatment in place” among the EMS reforms at the end of the session

Declaring that EMS services in New York are in crisis, the New York State Association of Counties, along with legislators and other advocates, have banded together for a campaign called Rescue EMS.

Frustrated that priorities laid out earlier this year weren’t included in the state budget, they are preparing for a big push at the end of session next week to make progress on items they say will help keep these organizations afloat.

Steven Kroll, general manager of Delmar-Bethlehem EMS, said a top priority is legislation that would allow emergency services to treat patients on-site or transport them to treatment locations other than a hospital.

Right now, when it comes to Medicaid enrollees, unless EMS organizations take a patient to the hospital, they don’t get paid.

“We need to buy fuel, replace equipment, buy new ambulances and pay better salaries to our employees,” he said. “You shouldn’t be paid zero to care for people at home who we don’t take to the hospital. Pay us at least what you would pay us if we took them to the hospital.

Kroll said that while many calls require hospitalization, there are many cases where a patient requires care that does not rise to the level of a hospital visit.

“If you’re diabetic and your sugar level has gotten low, and you know it’s gotten low and it’s happened before, and you don’t have a lot of other medical problems and we “We can get your sugar back where it needs to go, we can take care of you at home and then you can go see your doctor later,” he said.

Assemblymember Donna Lupardo, a driving force behind the effort, pointed out that with long wait times at upstate hospitals and high Medicaid costs when people are transported there, benefits would be significant if the bill were passed.

“It puts a very big burden on our ambulances to keep them financially viable, but they’re also trying to reduce the number of people who come to the emergency room who may not need that level of service,” she declared.

Kroll said patient benefits are also significant in the form of increased care options.

“If you want to go to the hospital, we’ll take you there; if you want us to help you in your home, we will try it. We can even talk to a doctor via telemedicine to have that doctor come home with us,” he said.

The package also includes bills that would deem EMS an essential service and create special taxing districts to help organizations obtain resources, as well as exemptions from the property tax cap and other tax credits .