Quality EMS chief gives presentation to Middlesex board of supervisors
MIDDLESEX TWP — Quality EMS executive Conrad Pfeifer stood before the Middlesex Township board of supervisors to bring to their attention the growing problems that his organization has faced with funding and crew for the past few years.
Pfeifer spoke during the monthly Middlesex Township work session on Wednesday, Nov. 1.
It was the same presentation that Pfeifer had given to every other municipality in Quality’s coverage area, which also includes Forward Township, Adams Township, Mars, Valencia, and Callery.
“I'm trying to get funding from the municipalities to help our employees and citizens,” Pfeifer said.
Quality isn’t the only EMS agency facing in Pennsylvania facing problems. EMS agencies across Pennsylvania have sounded the alarm about depleted funding and crew, as well as increased cost to maintain operations in the current economy. Some agencies in Pennsylvania, such as Jeannette and Kutztown located in Westmoreland and Berks counties, respectively, succumbed to the pressure and closed entirely.
It has become increasingly common in Pennsylvania for an EMS organization to not even be able to come to the scene of an emergency because all of their vehicles or personnel are tied up at the scene of another emergency.
At the root of Quality’s funding problems are the fact that, on average, it loses money on each emergency transport. Pfeifer estimates that it costs the organization $750 for each time an ambulance responds to a 911 call, but they only receive $450 on average.
To make matters worse, Quality and other EMS services operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which means more money spent on electricity and heating for the building as there are people present in there at almost every moment.
By law, EMS providers in Pennsylvania cannot simply choose not to respond to a call, even when the person making the call is unable or unwilling to pay for the service. Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, although they make up 62% of Quality EMS’ revenue, only cover 34% of the cost of an average emergency transport.
Once the Medicare/Medicaid payment goes through, the EMS agency is prohibited from trying to collect the rest of a patient’s balance.
“We can go to the same house nine, 10, 11, 12 times for this person that keeps falling, keeps cutting their finger. They don't pay, we still have to go,” Pfeifer said. “And each time we go, it's $750, and we have no way to not go.”
Between Oct. 1, 2022 and Oct. 1, 2023, Quality EMS received 2,393 calls, 470 of which came from Middlesex and 203 from Valencia.
According to Pfeifer, Quality EMS has had to pull $362,000 from its rainy day fund just to keep the lights on, and emergency COVID payments have ceased. Pfeifer’s suggestion was to impose a fee of $4.60 per month for each residence in its coverage area to ensure that operations can continue.
“My goal is to get my employees a decent wage,” Pfeifer said. “I'm not going to buy a Corvette. I'm not going to build a new building. I'm not going to put a water fountain in. But we need to survive.”
