NYSAC Shows Staunch Support For Emergency Services

By Michael Ryan

CATSKILL - The timing couldn’t be better for Greene County as the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) voices ardent support for statewide advances in emergency medical services.

NYSAC members, at a meeting on Tuesday in Albany, backed measures put forward by Governor Kathy Hochul that, if approved, would identify ambulance response and transport as an “essential service.”

The re-branding would put life-saving rescue operations in the same genre as firefighting, simultaneously setting the stage for the formation of tax districts to fund the effort.

Greene County is ahead of the curve, recently hiring an outside consultant to perform a countywide study on the costs and conditions of ambulance service (see related story in our “Legislature Stuff” column).

County deputy administrator Warren Hart, noting that county deputy budget officer Kevin Forbes attended the NYSAC talks, says the shoe is on the other foot in terms of helping rescue systems survive.

“We need to rescue our EMS. There is a statewide crisis in emergency services transport, among others,” Hart says.

“These are services we provide on a daily basis.These are essential services that we need to invest in, including the EMS services personnel, many of whom are volunteers.

“There is no hospital in Greene County and we need the best transport system possible. Thanks to NYSAC for bringing the counties together.

“The [Hochul] bill would allow for joint taxing districts both at the town and county levels. The Greene County Legislature is jointly working with the towns to address EMS transport.

“The county is working with a national expert on the subject, Fitch and Associates, who will be conducting a comprehensive system overview of the county’s EMS medical transportation program,” Hart says.

NYSAC, meanwhile, is pushing as many bureaucratic buttons as possible, putting forth a legislative proposal called “Rescue EMS.”

“In some areas of the state, ambulance wait times are getting longer and longer, and a lack of volunteers and funding shortfalls have thrown our EMS systems into crisis,” a NYSAC press release states.

“The legislative package, which NYSAC worked in close collaboration with state legislators and EMS providers to craft, is designed to provide local governments with the authority to create and fund countywide EMS services,” the press release states

It will do so by establishing a foundation to, “provide financial incentives for EMS workers to enter and stay in the field and update Medicaid reimbursement rates to reflect current needs and costs.”

The “Rescue EMS” package, according to the NYSAC press release, includes the following legislation:

—Special Taxing Districts & EMS Being Deemed an Essential Service. This comprehensive legislative package allows special taxing districts to be created to fund EMS services.

In addition, this legislation would recognize EMS as an essential service and provide reforms to the Emergency Medical Services Council.

—Property Tax Exemption for EMS Services. This legislation would remove EMS services from the real property tax cap.

This would allow local municipalities to expand and better support their local EMS services. This measure is needed in the short-term while other solutions are being discussed.

—Authorization of Reimbursement for Treatment in Place and Transportation to Alternative Destinations. Effective immediately, NYS should establish a mechanism within the Medicaid Fee Schedule for Ground Ambulance Services.

That mechanism would provide reimbursement to emergency medical service agencies for providing emergency medical care to Medicaid enrollees without transporting them from the location where medical care was administered to the beneficiary.

Reimbursements shall be made when emergency medical care is provided to a Medicaid enrollee after a call, text, or other request for emergency medical care.

—Income Tax and Property Tax Credits. This legislation allows volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers to claim both state income and local property tax credits.

—Income Tax Credit Increase. This legislation increases the volunteer firefighters’ and ambulance workers’ personal income tax credit from $200 to $800 for eligible individuals and from $400 to $1,600 for eligible married joint filers.

—Targeted Medicaid Rate Increase for EMS Providers. This bill would create a methodology for ambulance reimbursement under Medicaid that more closely approximates the cost of providing the service.

Ambulances are required by law to pick everyone up, including Medicaid patients. It is unfair to require these ambulance companies to accept Medicaid patients and then not fairly reimburse them for the costs of providing services to these patients,” the NYSAC press release states.

Ryan Gregoire, director of legislative affairs for NYSAC, puts it succinctly, stating, “a package of measures put forward by Hochul in her budget presentation is the most comprehensive, impactful and sincere EMS proposal I have seen in my career.”