 - A state legislative committee approved a bill draft last week that would increase the Medicaid reimbursement rate for emergency medical services (EMS) from 67 percent to 100 percent for two years beginning next July.){kind=link}
(Cheyenne, WY) – A state legislative committee approved a bill draft last week that would increase the Medicaid reimbursement rate for emergency medical services (EMS) from 67 percent to 100 percent for two years beginning next July.
Wyoming Hospital Association President Eric Boley said the change – which is estimated to cost the state $1.3 million and generate another $1.3 million in federal matching funds – could help “shore up” EMS systems across Wyoming, including in Fremont County, where rising costs and other challenges have stretched local budgets thin.
“Even in Fremont County, they struggle, and they’ve had to spend a lot of money over the years subsidizing the services to keep them there,” Boley told the Wyoming Legislature’s Labor, Health and Social Services Committee during a meeting last week. “This is a small amount of money that (could) help our EMS services be a little bit more viable. …
“Is $2.6 million going to fix the entire thing? No. But it is going to offer a lifeline and help to alleviate some of the losses that they’re incurring while we figure out maybe what we can do with some of this other funding that’s coming through the federal government.”
He was referring to the federal government’s new Rural Health Transformation Program, which he said could provide Wyoming with up to $800 million in funding over the next five years.
“There’s great opportunity and great potential there,” Boley said. “(But) it’s going to take a while to get that money rolled out and get it in place.”
Regionalization
The Wyoming Department of Health is currently developing its application to the Rural Health Transformation Program, WDH Deputy Director Franz Fuchs said, and EMS has been “a very large focus” throughout the process.
“We really are trying to look at … addressing the big mismatch between (the) fixed cost and the volume,” Fuchs said. “(That’s) a big focus. … But then secondly, encouraging them to consolidate, encouraging them to regionalize, encouraging them to work with other services to find more sustainability moving forward.”
Wyoming Rep. Pepper Ottman, R-Riverton, who is a member of the Labor, Health and Social Services Committee, expressed support for the “fiscally responsible” idea of collaboration among local EMS departments – both regionally and within individual counties like Fremont, where she said it’s “difficult” to provide 24/7 ambulance services to remote areas like Jeffrey City, for example.
“I mean, it just doesn’t make sense,” Ottman said. “You can’t supply those services or the personnel to be there 24/7. … That’s why I’m hoping that the counties will look at working with municipalities and saying, ‘How can you step up to the plate and use some of your people more?’
“(We) need people to start coming up with some local answers, and then come alongside them and help.”
10-2
Ottman voted in favor of the bill draft increasing the Medicaid reimbursement rate for EMS providers last week, pointing to the work of Fremont County’s new Joint Committee on Funding Key Services, which is currently exploring potential funding options to support the local ambulance system.
“(They are) working diligently to look at services that have not been compensated, that have not been paid back, where the services are going, and how they can better be served,” Ottman said. “So … I’m thinking I might go against what I normally would do and (vote) yes, just so that I can wait to see what work has been done in my county.”
Wyoming Rep. Joel Guggenmos, R-Riverton, who also serves on the Labor, Health, and Social Services Committee, voted in favor of the bill draft as well.
The proposal passed 10-2 and will be considered by the Wyoming Legislature during next year’s budget session.