Ambulance board appoints final member
Posted on Thursday, November 20, 2008
During a meeting Wednesday night, the executive committee of the Washington County Regional Ambulance Authority approved its final member, Tina Whitley, a mandated representative of nursing homes on the board.
She is the financial manager at Fayetteville Health and Rehabilitation Center on Old Missouri Road.
"She is very interested in participating on our board,” said Becky Stewart, Central Emergency Medical Service chief.
“She seems to be someone who’s interested and qualified,” Stewart said.
With all members of the executive committee in place, the transition from the nonprofit Central Emergency Medical Service Inc. to the quasi-governmental regional ambulance authority is close to completion and should officially occur next month.
In the meantime, members of the ambulance authority executive committee continue to work on the transition.
The committee agreed to have lawyers review a draft of the notice of exclusivity, which will be sent to four other ambulance providers and 20 to 25 health care facilities on Dec. 1, giving them 30 days notice of the transition.
There will be a few minor changes to the document before it is reviewed by attorneys and signed by Lloyd Swope, president of the authority’s executive committee.
The notification tells providers and facilities that the ambulance authority will hold exclusive rights for emergency and nonemergency ambulance transportation in the county, beginning Jan. 1.
It also states that the ambulance authority was formed to create an entity to own, operate and manage ambulance ser vices for the cities of Elkins, Farmington, Fayetteville, Goshen, Greenland, Lincoln, Prairie Grove, West Fork, Winslow and Johnson (south of Main Street) and in unincorporated areas of the county not served by Springdale fire and EMS personnel.
Assets and operations of Central EMS, which has been serving most of the county since 1980, has been acquired by and will be operated as part of the regional ambulance authority, according to the draft notification.
Prior to the executive committee meeting, the Central EMS board of directors met. This board will be dissolved once the ambulance authority takes over in December.
Tony Hickerson, chief financial officer of Central EMS, reviewed a draft of the proposed 2009 budget, which officials hope to have approved before the transition takes place in December.
Built into the budget is a proposed 5 percent raise in rates for next year. Typically the rate increase mirrors Medicare’s reimbursement increase each year, Stewart said in an interview after the meeting.
On the revenue side of the proposed budget for next year, it is anticipated that the exclusivity for nonemergency calls will result in 1,440 more calls next year, which is one reason that the authority expects to have $415,859 more in income than expenses.
“I think if you get close to this [figure], you’ll be doing good,” said Washington County Administrator John Gibson.
Total expected income for next year is $7,798,957, while anticipated expenses are $7,383,098.
In another matter, a public hearing set for the Dec. 11 Washington County Quorum Court meeting is for justices of the peace to declare that the authority will be the provider of ambulance service for Washington County. The Quorum Court meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Quorum Court Room of the Washington County Courthouse.
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