Ambulance Service Seeks More Funds
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WATER VALLEY – Yalobusha County supervisors fielded their first budget request for the upcoming fiscal year after officials with Yalobusha Health Services (YHS) asked for a 40 percent increase in funding to operate the ambulance service. The county currently pays the hospital $227,360 annually to operate the service and the request is for an additional $90,944 starting with the 2025-26 budget year that begins in October.
In Mississippi, the cost for providing ambulance services is the responsibility of county government and the vast majority of Mississippi counties contract with an ambulance service provider such as Medstat, Lifeguard or American Medical Response (AMR). Yalobusha County contracts with YHS for the service.
YHS Administrator Jessica Embry made the request during a recessed Board of Supervisor meeting on Feb. 18. Embry reported the county-owned hospital is currently covering a $300,000 deficient annually to operate two ambulances 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the county. She also told supervisors that the total cost to operate the ambulances is $1.1 million annually, and the deficient comes even with revenue generated for transporting patients along with the $227,360 currently paid by the county.
Embry explained that one problem is ambulances frequently transport patients with no health insurance.
“Since 2019 our operating expenses have increased 33 percent and revenue has dropped 14 percent,” Embry explained about the cost of operating the ambulance service. She told supervisors that she had checked with other hospitals across the state for comparison.
“It seems like we are the only hospital that owns the ambulance service,” she said. “Jasper General in Bay Springs, Miss. is the only other hospital that mirrors us in the state, meaning they have a hospital, nursing home and no emergency room,” Embry added. She explained she reached out to the hospital administrator at Jasper General for input.
“He told me, ‘Jessica, if I had to foot the bill for the ambulance we would be under by now,’” Embry told supervisors.
Embry also told supervisors that if the request is approved, her preference is for the additional funding to go to a different account earmarked for the ambulance service for big equipment purchases. Examples cited by the hospital administrator included the purchase of two 2019 ambulances that have been leased by the hospital. Embry explained that one of the ambulances needs a new motor and the hospital is going to pay for it. She also said the lifts on the trucks used to hoist the stretchers for easier entry are no longer serviceable, and the replacement cost is $40,000 each.
“By the time we handle salaries, benefits, liability for the service, it just doesn’t leave excess money for trucks and equipment,” Embry added. “I don’t think you will find a hospital in our state that says they are running solid financially. That is just the times we are in right now, that applies to Yalobusha as well. Our expenses increase, our supplies, our medicine, our food have all gone up. Our reimbursements have not. We are not here because we don’t know how to manage money. We are here because there is more to do and less to go around.”
The request was taken under advisement by supervisors. The budget deliberations typically begin in earnest in August and are finalized before the new fiscal year starts in October.
