Calif. Fire Department to Charge Fee for EMS Calls

Beginning Monday, people who receive emergency medical care from Folsom Fire Department paramedics will be charged a $225 fee.

The fee schedule was adopted by the City Council on June 26 and, is intended to help defray the costs of "first responder" services by highly trained paramedics. Fire Chief Ron Phillips said the first responders typically are on scene and caring for patients before a public or private ambulance arrives.

Local taxes give the department the capability of having fire and paramedic services available around the clock. The new fee is intended to cover direct costs associated with responses to emergency medical incidents by engine and ladder truck companies. Officials argue that the cost for supplies and treatment should be borne the patients who receive those services, rather than subsidized by the community as a whole.

The fee typically would be covered by a patient's insurance. Ninety percent of patients treated by first responders in Folsom are covered by private insurance, Medicare or MediCal, according to a city news release

The fee will be charged whenever a person is medically evaluated and treated by paramedics on a first-responder unit. It will not be charged if an individual declines medical evaluation or treatment by paramedics.

The new fee applies to emergency incidents that occur in Folsom, as well as the approximately 300 emergency medical service incidents the Folsom Fire Department responds to annually in other cities and unincorporated areas of Sacramento County. Phillips noted that the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District charges first-responder fees when it provides service in Folsom.

The fees are expected to generate approximately $250,000 in revenue in the coming year.

Copyright 2012 - The Sacramento Bee, Calif.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service