County Considers Cutting Paramedic Squad Annual Budget Debate Raging Between Public And Private Emergency Service

Kootenai County commissioners are contemplating surgery to remove the county’s paramedic squad from the payroll.

But the threat of the budget knife has paramedics and other health officials wondering who will suffer in the end.

“Inevitably, whenever private groups get into emergency services, things get cut,” said paramedic Rich Harless. “The bottom line is always the primary concern.”

It’s not the first time commissioners have considered the change.

In fact, it surfaces almost yearly as an alternative to the expensive, sometimes controversial, county operation.

The county is divided into six ambulance districts, with ambulances stationed in each one. Most are manned by emergency medical technicians, or EMTs, employed by private companies.

Paramedics are county employees based at Kootenai Medical Center. They have more training and can do things most EMTs can’t such as administer medicine and perform field tracheotomies.

The county’s eight full-time paramedics work 16-hour and 24-hour shifts and operate on a budget of more than $500,000 a year.

Attempts to keep that budget lower have led to conflicts in the past.

In 1992, county officials quietly paid four paramedics $80,000 to settle a lawsuit involving overtime pay. In 1994, a trio of paramedics met with commissioners to discuss problems with managers. This year, the county’s chief paramedic resigned his management duties.

County Commissioner Dick Panabaker said the issue resurfaced this spring because a private ambulance company laid out a plan to take over the paramedic operation.

Arrow Ambulance, which contracts to serve most of Kootenai County, could save taxpayers up to $250,000 a year, he said.

Most of the savings would come in salaries because patients, rather than taxpayers, would pay for their service.

A group of emergency service experts has recommended against the change.

In a 22-page report, it determined that despite the lower cost, patients wouldn’t see significant benefits. Paramedics argue that some lower-income people could lose service, or would at least be charged more than they could afford.

That possibility cuts to the center of the national health care debate: Who should pay for those services?

“For most people, it would be paid for by insurance,” Panabaker said. “It would take a burden off the taxpayer. But then there are some people who don’t have insurance and can’t afford it.”

Arrow Ambulance Wednesday offered again to prepare a detailed plan for a takeover. Commissioners told the company to hold off.

“We told them to give us a chance to look at what’s happening and we’ll get back to them,” Panabaker said. “We’re not ready to do that yet.”

A decision is expected in coming weeks.

, DataTimes