Item 4 - Report on Mobile Healthcare Services Option

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Introduction On May 5, 1981 a private ambulance company which had served Eugene-Springfield and Central Lane County for 26 years suddenly ceased operations, leaving local fire departments responsible for the Ambulance Transport System (ATS). The cities of Eugene and Springfield stepped in to provide service and created a long-term, stable, national award-winning system. Lane Rural Fire/Rescue District joined the Central Lane ATS in 2000. Since initiation of service in 1981, the fire departments have depended on user fees as a primary source of funding for their Ambulance Transport Funds (ATF). In 1986, the FireMed Ambulance Membership was added to provide a low-cost alternative to expensive ambulance bills and raise additional funds from annual membership fees. Currently over 25% of the population are members of this voluntary membership program. In 2002, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services initiated a multi-phase national ambulance fee plan which has systematically reduced ambulance reimbursement by 2010 to less than 50% of previous levels. Since more than 60% of ambulance patients are covered by these plans, the effect on the ATF was to create financial losses and eliminate contingency funds accumulated over many years. Ambulance services throughout the nation are struggling to solve this problem. In January 2009, a Central Lane ATS Summit was organized, bringing Joint Elected Officials (JEO) from Eugene, Springfield, Lane County, and Lane Rural Fire/Rescue together with health care officials to discuss the status of the ATF and the need to create alternative financial solutions. Staff from each ATS jurisdiction recommended creation of a JEO ATS Task Force to review the issue and recommend potential solutions. The JEO ATS Task Force was created, began meeting on April 6, 2009 and continued thorough November 23, 2009. The Task Force presented a report of recommendations to the Joint Elected Officials on December 7, 2009. It included seven recommendations, each requiring various actions to be taken to determine their applicability. Recommendation #6 stated “That work proceed as rapidly as possible regarding provision of a regional mobile health care system, featuring tiered levels of response (and cost) available to patients depending on the nature of the emergency, with a report to elected officials by the end of calendar year 2010.” Following this report is a magazine article discussing the origins of the Mobile Healthcare Services (MHS) concept (Appendix A) and an initial introductory editorial published in the Register Guard (Appendix B). This staff report addresses the feasibility of recommendation #6, design and development of a Mobile Healthcare Services (MHS) system. ···