A quick update from a story I first wrote about two years ago.
It looks like North Brookfield EMS has lost its battle to stay in business.
According to reports in the local press, NBEMS has informed Selectmen that it intends to end 24/7 full-time service, drop its ALS activities, and return to service as a call and volunteer BLS system.
I don't know who will be offering ALS service to North Brookfield and New Braintree, but I'm sure they never would have made the decision to downgrade without ensuring there was a substitute in place.
This is a bummer, but times are tough all over and ALS is expensive to maintain, especially at low-volume rural providers.
One figure I heard was that it cost over $500,000 annually for NBEMS to staff three full-time Paramedics.
I don't know what their revenues were like, but I'm certain it was nowhere near half a million dollars.
I commend the NBEMS folks for realizing that they can't adequately pay for an ALS service and not entering into the charade certain other towns in our area have chosen to partake in, where they maintain "24/7" ALS coverage on paper, while the reality is something different altogether.
Keynote
1 month ago
1 comment:
Ted,
I appreciate your coments in this article. The truth is that Central Massachusetts is spoiled with ALS coverage. The reality is that most EMS providers dont understand the "buisiness" side to the industry. Have no illusions, even at the pre hospital level this is a buisiness. It always has been and always will be about dollars and cents. It make no difference between town/public sector or private. There is a distinct diffrence between revenue and profit. Unfortunately that line is going to be drawn much clearer in the next 24 months.
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