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Commissioners approve $137,000 to Operation Life
After months of discussion and debate, the Putnam County Commissioners have approved additional funding to Putnam County Operation Life.
At least in part.
During their most recent meeting, the commissioners voted 3-0 to fund a third ambulance crew for Operation Life for the rest of the year, at a cost of $137,000.
The money will be drawn from the county’s Hazardous Waste fund, from which $80,000 is drawn annually for Operation Life funding.
“The way we understand it,” Commissioner David Berry explained, “this money is going to allow (Operation Life) another ambulance on the road so we get more coverage.”
The question of Operation Life funding remains on the docket, though, as the ambulance service also requested $65,000 to fully replace a wrecked ambulance.
Currently, Operation Life is able to staff two 24/7 ambulance crews, but a third is often needed, as Executive Director E.J. Claflin showed in a presentation to the commissioners.
Claflin said there were 3,188 ambulance requests in 2016, or 8.7 requests a day.
There were 276 times in 2016, Claflin continued, that the service needed three ambulances at once. The number goes down to 19 when four or more were needed.
“It gives some insight as to how busy the work can get,” Claflin said.
One point of contention has been Operation Life declining transfer requests by Putnam County Hospital. Claflin pointed out that in 216 OL responded to 599 of the 715 requests made by PCH, which brings the number of daily runs to 10.3.
However, OL officials declined calls for different reasons, including patients who were too critical even for an advanced life support (paramedic) ambulance or simply so that OL could ensure it was meeting the county’s 911 needs.
Claflin showed the financial constraints that such transfers place on an ambulance provider, as providing the service cost OL $274,445.20 last year, but only $195,377.76 was collected — a loss of $79,067.44.
The director also discussed that came in 2010 that greatly reduced reimbursement for Medicare and Medicaid. Not coincidentally, 2010 is the last time OL turned a profit.
The recent addition of STAR Ambulance to the county — due in large part to STAR providing transfer services to the hospital — has opened up questions regarding ambulance service in the county.
The most pressing is what happens if a STAR ambulance is closer to the location of a 911 call than an Operation Life ambulance.
The short answer, emphasized at each of the last two meetings, is that OL, along with Roachdale-based PMH, has the contract with the county and it is the first service called.
Dispatchers do have the power, however, to call an alternative ambulance if the situation requires it.
Another question is what competition in the county means to the future of the county’s contract for emergency ambulance service.
Commissioner Rick Woodall, who sits on the Operation Life Board, expects to have bids from OL and STAR.
“I fully expect to have multiple bids on EMS at the end of the year,” Woodall said.
Commissioners will cross that bridge when it arrives. For now, the other OL funding question will be on the docket in June since the $65,000 request was not approved.
After an OL vehicle collided with a Putnam County Sheriff’s Department SUV in November, insurance paid $83,000, and the $65,000 will go toward fully replacing the ambulance.
The commissioners next meet at 9 a.m. on Monday, May 5 on the first floor of the courthouse.