Ken-Tenn EMS Board members seek ‘essential’ designation for service

by Barbara Atwill

Ken-Tenn EMS Board met in regular session Aug. 20, at the Ken-Tenn EMS base in Fulton with members Mike Gunn, Jim Martin, Hugh Caldwell, David Weatherly, Rebecca Biehslich, Pete Algee, Ken-Tenn EMS Director Kevin Kelley, and Milton Dean attending.

Fulton County Detention Center’s membership fee was updated by Jim Martin.

He stated the budget for the Detention Center has already been set. No action was taken, and the Detention Center will remain at $1,000 per month on the ambulance fee schedule.

Rebecca Biehslich of South Fulton was welcomed by the Board as a new director-at-large.

“The City of Fulton had some money left over, which was collected from years past. It has now been deposited in First Financial Bank, and is not in the operating account. It is with other money received from Dura property and some money that had been in the savings account for some time,” Gunn said.

Net income as of July 31, is $104,783.76, with a loss of $30,633.

“Remember, as far as the increase, we are seeing the cities are running behind. I just received the first check with the increase. The City of Fulton went from about $12,000 to $24,000. I know Hickman was guaranteeing us $7,300 and $13,000,” reported Gunn.

Gunn continued, “I asked South Fulton City Manager Johnny Bacon when the city was going to retire their prepayment and he will let me know. He couldn’t get all the information together for this meeting. The County of Fulton is $6,626 in memberships for July.”

Martin said, “If you look at people in Graves and Hickman counties on water meters are paying 59%. People in Fulton County in the city of Fulton and Hickman water meters are paying 60%. The people out in the county not on water meters are paying 6%. I’m really hoping that will go up.”

KTEMS Director’s Report reflected from July Total EMS Calls for Service were 202, non-transports were 45, Interfacility transports were nine, total miles driven were 8,553, and blood draws, one.

Kelley reported, “I received a quote for around $2,000 to fix the ambulance that was involved in a wreck when striking a deer on Hwy. 94 on the way to a call, and another truck was called out from Hickman. Then a call was received in Hickman and the other truck had to go to Hickman. I was able to take a strap and pull the bumper off the tire and drive back without having to have it towed. It also allows that if I have to use it locally, we can use it. Most of the damage was below the grill, on the bumper and a tire.”

Two part-time medics have been hired, with orientation starting soon, Kelley reported.

“If it wasn’t for having a cardio monitor they are not familiar with, I could spend about a day with them and put them on the road, but I need to spend some time with them. One advanced EMT, who works part-time passed his medic testing, and will give us three EMTs,” Kelley said.

“We had cash of a little over $40,000 in run revenue, $16,000 above projected. We are starting to see a little bit decline in the revenue per run from where we started the membership and the write-off of the co-pays. This will shake out after it starts cycling through,” explained Kelley.

“I don’t have a bad debt collection for you. I received it late this afternoon, and haven’t had a chance to go through it,” Kelley said.

A letter was approved, with minor changes, to be sent to non-members for use of the service, along with discussion of a financial hardship policy.

It was reported Gunn, Martin, and Kelley will attend a meeting in Louisville Aug. 28, with the County Judge’s Association, Ambulance Association, Kentucky League of Cities, and Kentucky Association of Counties. An invitation has been sent to Sen. Stan Humphries and Rep. Steven Rudy to attend, as well.

The meeting’s purpose is to get Legislative assistance for treating the ambulance service as an essential service, in anticipation of billing for the service with payment to be mandatory.

Martin asked, “Didn’t I hear that approximately 60 people in July have asked to be taken off of the water meter payment and have used the service, some of these being multiple time users?”

A committee comprised of Gunn, Kelley, and Dean, is exploring software to help with billing for ambulance.

“We quickly realized with this membership program, we are getting overwhelmed with trying to track, bill, people paying $17 per month, and Jim billing from his office. It quite frankly is a mess for Kevin trying to figure from three entities,” explained Gunn.