By Staff
To the editor:
Southwestern Michigan Community Ambulance Service (SMCAS) and Medic 1 Ambulance are the two largest providers of Advanced Life Support (ALS) Ambulance Service in Berrien County. Both SMCAS and Medic 1 are municipally owned and operated services. Both SMCAS and Medic 1 Ambulance operate with full ALS crews on EVERY on-duty ambulance. This means that each on-duty ambulance is staffed with a minimum of one Paramedic and one Emergency Medical Technician to and from all calls for service. Neither SMCAS nor Medic 1 Ambulance subscribe to the practice of having one EMT respond alone in an ALS ambulance to any emergency scene.
Both SMCAS and Medic 1 Ambulance pride themselves on providing excellent patient care to the citizens and visitors to the greater South West Michigan area. To help assure excellent care, both services equip their ambulances and medical personnel with top notch lifesaving equipment, including state of the art heart monitors that cost nearly $22,000.00 each. SMCAS and Medic 1 Ambulance take pride in the fact that they both have numerous employees with well over 15 years of emergency service experience.
Both SMCAS and Medic 1 Ambulance are supported by public funds including special assessments, and contract billings to municipalities. Brian Balow of Coloma EMS is quoted in an Oct. 23, 2007 article as saying, "The misnomer is you have to have tax dollars (to fund ambulance services) is not true." A review of Coloma Emergency Ambulance Inc's 2006 Form 990 shows government contributions of $419,074 and a net excess or income for the year of $59,738. If the government contribution amount was eliminated, the net loss or deficit for the year 2006 would be $359,336. A net loss of this amount would eliminate the reported cash and savings of $746,405 in just over two years. I fail to understand how Mr. Balow can state that tax dollars are not needed for ambulance providers when his company obviously depends on such dollars.
Ambulance services, one of the most regulated industries in the country, are reimbursed at below cost amounts for nearly 75% of all calls for service. To put this practice into the commercial business market would relate to the following scenario: A company buys hammers for $3 each and is required to sell hammers for $2 each. The company must sell unlimited numbers of hammers to everyone that wants a hammer(s). The company loses $1 for every hammer they are required to sell. Without any support, the store would be forced to close its doors. In the ambulance industry the "hammer" is Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement. Neither of these reimbursement rates cover the cost of having qualified medical personnel ready and willing to serve.
SMCAS takes care to provide our citizens with the finest medical care possible. The most important element in patient care is the medical staff. 13 of our 14 paramedics are trained to the Critical Care Level. Up to date medical equipment is also a vital part of patient care. Four years ago, SMCAS made an investment and moved to larger rigs. These larger rigs have an initial cost that is approximately 23 percent more than that of the smaller rigs, but these rigs have a road life that is more than 200 percent of the smaller rigs. The larger rigs have less down time than the smaller rigs as brakes and rotors are replaced much less often.
The sayings, "There is no such thing as a free lunch, and you get what you pay for" hold true for most business and emergency medical services are no exception. Although we would all like to be able to serve our communities for free, personnel, equipment, ambulances and fuel all come at a cost. Without community support, one or more of these items must be reduced or eliminated. When your life is at risk, what area would you cut?
SMCAS
Niles