EMS calls getting more expensive in Tracy

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Jun 22, 2009 | by Mike Martinez

TRACY -- Starting sometime in early fall, emergency medical assistance from the Tracy Fire Department could cost at least $300. It could cost more for nonresidents.

The Tracy City Council voted 4-1 on Tuesday, with Councilman Steve Abercrombie the lone dissenter, to adopt fees whenever someone receives emergency medical support and paramedic services from a Tracy firefighter.

Tracy Mayor Brent Ives said the council is going to run into similar situations with other pay for service programs in the city and "it's going to be difficult every time."

"If that's the level of service that we feel our community deserves and expects," Ives said, "we just can't continue to afford all the highest levels of service."

Tracy Fire Chief Chris Bosch expects the program to generate about $1 million annually, if it's also adopted by the Tracy Rural Fire Protection District and the Mountain House Community Services District. It is expected to be run by staff within the Tracy Fire Department and a third-party billing agency, which is expected to charge about 20 percent of the revenue generated, according to city documents.

"I think we need to monitor this closely and revisit it if we see there are some problems in the community," Councilwoman Suzanne Tucker said.

The adopted fees also include charges for motor vehicle accidents -- fire officials said Tracy Rural already charges cost recovery for nonresident accident calls -- where the actual cost of service will be billed, and $180 for lockout calls.

Residents and local business owners have the option of buying into a city-run membership program, where they would pay annual dues instead of the adopted fee. It would cost residents $48 annually to cover their home, and any emergency calls in town, while businesses would pay the same amount to cover their first 10 employees with charges of $3 per person after that capped at $100 a year.

Bosch said use fees to recover the cost of EMS services is a strategy to offset operational costs during a time of declining tax revenues that has been adopted by many departments already in California -- such as Sonoma, Santa Rosa, and Fullerton -- and others across the country, according to city documents.

If the person requiring medical attention is taken by ambulance - - American Medical Response is the contracted provider for San Joaquin County -- it may generate a second bill.

Nonresidents could pay as much as $400 for medical assistance from the Tracy Fire Department, not including other potential fees.

Tracy Fire responds to more than 4,400 calls annually, with medical calls and vehicle accidents making up the vast majority. In the 2007-08 fiscal year, only 10 percent of the department's calls were for fires, according to city documents. There is no charge to respond to fires.

Tracy Fire introduced paramedic-trained fire fighters to rural service in 2005, and now more than half of the department's seven stations in Tracy, rural Tracy and Mountain House have at least one riding on engines.

Reach Mike Martinez at 209-832-3947 or mike.martinez@bayareanewsgroup.com.