Supervisors Work Session on EMS Transfer

The Henry County Board of Supervisors held a work session Tuesday morning.  The purpose was to brainstorm potential costs to the county to operate emergency medical services.  HCHC currently owns EMS but has proposed the county take over the operation.  The supervisors have been working to pin down the actual cost to the county and to the taxpayers in order to ask county residents to vote on whether or not the transfer of the service should take place. However, coming up with a hard total cost is proving difficult.  Unknown insurance reimbursements contributes to the difficulty.  There are also some other costs to be considered.  For example, is it more cost effective to lease EMS facilities from HCHC or renovate the old law center.  Some of the other cost questions the board came up with today included phone and radio costs at the old law center, additional HIPPA liability insurance, additional IPERS contribution, and what would it cost  to contract with a company to do coding and billing?  There was also the question of will the ambulances and equipment be transferred over to the county at no cost?  The supervisors also want some assurance that the hospital won’t go to a separate private entity for patient transfer services. And….is HCHC still interested contracting with the county for supplies or does the county need to contract with a different supplier?  The board will hold another work session after investigating answers to these questions.