On Tuesday, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors will discuss increasing fees to recover costs with emergency response areas within Contra Costa County.
According to the report presented by Fire Chief Lewis T. Broschard III, they are seeking to increase costs by 5% and the district is not allowed to charge more or less than the rates specified in the District-CCCEMSA contract which went into effect April 12 of 2019.
The increases would apply to those in Emergency Response Areas 1, 2 and 5.
Service | 2019 Cost | 2020 Proposed Cost |
| Emergency Ambulance Response Base Rate | $2,312.75 | $2,428.002 |
| Mileage Rate for each mile traveled with loaded patient | $55.27 | $58.003 |
| Oxygen Administration Charge | $193.08 | $203.004 |
| Treat and Refused Transport | $495.43 | $520 |
Effective May 1, 2020, AMR will receive an approximate 5% increase in its unit hour rate to correct for unsustainable increases under the current formula. The largest cost driver in the ambulance system is payments to AMR. These payments to AMR account for over 80% of system costs. The District is mandated by the terms of its contract with AMR to provide Ambulance Unit Hour Rate increases on an annual basis beginning in year two of the contract, and those increases are contractually determined by the formula specified the District-AMR contract.
The new formula provides AMR with the full CPI increase on all ambulance services since AMR collects 100% of ambulance unit hours invoiced to the District. However, the District does not receive the full CPI increase on all types of payers as only a fraction of the amounts billed are actually collected.
Proposed Emergency Ambulance Services Fee Calculation
For each Emergency Ambulance Service call, District shall charge the patient the Emergency Ambulance Response Base Rate, plus mileage costs at the Mileage Rate.
If oxygen is administered to a patient, District shall charge the patient the Oxygen Administration Charge, whether transported or not. If a patient is treated and refuses transport, District shall charge the Treat and Refused Transport rate.
- Emergency Ambulance Response Base Rate: $2,428.00
- Mileage Rate (for each mile traveled with a loaded patient): $58.00
- Oxygen Administration Charge: $203.00
- Treat and Refused Transport: $520.00
If Ordinance No. 2020-01 is not adopted, the District will not be able to recover the increased costs of providing emergency ambulance services under its contract with the County and AMR.
Staff Report: Click here
3 comments
Since “firemen” rarely fight fires and waste tons of money responding to medical calls. Why not give more public safety money to ambulance/paramedic services?
I guess all that money that is buying these helicopters wasn’t spent wisely. All these new fire engines as soon as they awarded themselves the contract I guess that was money not well managed. These fire chiefs are on a careless mission to spend all the money to buy all the toys they want and then just keep asking for more. Let’s not forget that in the recent years public agencies in California were able to get a law passed which gives public agencies full reimburse from medi-cal while a private ambulances in other counties that provide the same 911 service are not entitled to a full reimbursement.
Let’s talk about the money grab some more. Before the fire district awarded themselves the contract for ambulance service the firefighters would respond to lift assists, now it’s a money making adventure and no fire engine responds. Instead you now get an ambulance and the fire district turns around and bills for that service.
Chief Broschard his main crony Chief McAllister were just in Solano County not that long ago bragging to their EMS board about how profitable this model of ambulance service is and how they are able to invest millions back into the system. What happened, did they mismanage the money? Smoke signals folks, they are banking on your ignorance on the matter to feed you lines of b.s. and sob stories to keep buying toys and building their career trophy case. I smell a grand jury investigation into a complete failure of their fiduciary responsibility aswell as the board members. There was already a ruling from State EMS about the corruption with this group.
This is what happens when the Fire Department takes over the Ambulance Service. This is just another hidden TAX.
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