Minnesota Matters 9-18-26

There's a couple of concerns with rural ambulances.

One is finding people to staff and run a rural ambulance.

And the Barnesville one is really good on staffing.

One's in Senator Hochschild's district.

That's a huge problem.

The overall problem for a lot of these EMS is reimbursement.

They do not get enough money that comes back from the federal government in particular.

They have a large Medicaid population.

to even cover the runs that they are

going out on.

How do we kind of correct that problem, especially when it's a federal issue?

Right.

And there are some things at the state level, too.

I don't want to take us completely off the hook.

But certainly, you know, and I know Senator Smith has had legislation about this, to reimburse those Medicaid rates for ambulances.

And even if they just did it for rural EMS, that would be a big start because those are the ones that are hurting the most If they could do that.

You know, the second thing is in the state level, we have, you know, fire and police are considered essential services and they get money from the state because of that ambulance service is not considered essential service.

And and so, you know, the past couple of years, Senator Hochschild and myself and some other people have been able to direct some money.

it is just a pittance for what they need to make them whole and we need to do a lot better because no matter where you live, you should have access to some kind of emergency care if you get into a situation.

Yeah, I'm just curious, why is it not considered essential when it comes to ambulance service?

That's a really great question and I don't have the answer why it is not.

You know, so we have a task force that is working on that and we have a new department of EMS and so the idea is is to bring that in and eventually here the next couple of years, we'll make it that way.

My hunch is some of it is funding.

And I also think probably in the past, We were making them whole with the revenue that they were pulling in from insurance and from Medicaid when they would go out on a run, and they didn't need our help as essential service, but now they do.

Now they do.

There's a couple of concerns with rural ambulances.

One is finding people to staff and run a rural ambulance.

And the Barnesville one is really good on staffing.

One's in Senator Hochschild's district.

That's a huge problem.

The overall problem for a lot of these EMS is reimbursement.

They do not get enough money that comes back from the federal government in particular.

They have a large Medicaid population.

to even cover the runs that they are

going out on.

How do we kind of correct that problem, especially when it's a federal issue?

Right.

And there are some things at the state level, too.

I don't want to take us completely off the hook.

But certainly, you know, and I know Senator Smith has had legislation about this, to reimburse those Medicaid rates for ambulances.

And even if they just did it for rural EMS, that would be a big start because those are the ones that are hurting the most If they could do that.

You know, the second thing is in the state level, we have, you know, fire and police are considered essential services and they get money from the state because of that ambulance service is not considered essential service.

And and so, you know, the past couple of years, Senator Hochschild and myself and some other people have been able to direct some money.

it is just a pittance for what they need to make them whole and we need to do a lot better because no matter where you live, you should have access to some kind of emergency care if you get into a situation.

Yeah, I'm just curious, why is it not considered essential when it comes to ambulance service?

That's a really great question and I don't have the answer why it is not.

You know, so we have a task force that is working on that and we have a new department of EMS and so the idea is is to bring that in and eventually here the next couple of years, we'll make it that way.

My hunch is some of it is funding.

And I also think probably in the past, We were making them whole with the revenue that they were pulling in from insurance and from Medicaid when they would go out on a run, and they didn't need our help as essential service, but now they do.

Now they do.