Kalispell considers raising city's ambulance rates

A proposal to increase Kalispell's ambulance fees will go to a City Council vote this month.

The Evergreen Fire District's ambulance is increasing its use, and the poor economy is affecting payments to the city's ambulance service, which also serves much of rural Flathead County.

The city staff briefed the council Monday on this fee proposal at a workshop.

The city subsidizes much of the Kalispell Fire Department's ambulance services.

City figures show that:

n The fire department's four ambulances responded to 2,998 calls in 2007 - 38 percent in the county, 38 percent in Kalispell south of U.S. 2 and 24 percent in Kalispell north of U.S. 2.

n The fire department billed roughly $1.333 million for those 2007 calls -mostly to insurance and Medicaid but 12 percent to patients. The city collected $748,000 -or 56 percent.

n The fire department responded to 2,708 ambulance calls in 2008, down 290 from the previous year. That broke down to 28 percent in the county, 29 percent in Kalispell north of U.S. 2 and 43 percent in Kalispell south of U.S. 2.

n The fire department billed roughly $1.346 million for those 2008 calls. But it collected $666,0000 - $82,000 less than in 2007. Patients paid 13 percent of the amount, while Medicaid and insurance paid the rest.

Kalispell is Montana's biggest city to have a public ambulance service, Acting Fire Chief Dan Diehl said. Other major Montana cities use private ambulance services, which don't disclose their finances.

Council member Tim Kluesner said that a private firm would go out of business if it collected only 50 percent of what it is owed, but no private business would take over a public service that has to write off 50 percent of its bills.

"We're between a rock and a hard place," Kluesner said.

Consequently, the city staff is proposing fee increases as follows:

n Eliminate the city's flat $200 out-of-town response fee because it is not generating much money.

n Increase the mileage charge from $9.90 a mile to $14 a mile, which mostly will affect rural patients.

n Increase the fee for on-the-site treatment without transport from $368 to $400.

n Increase basic-life-support non-emergency runs from $284 to $550.

n Increase basic-life-support emergency runs from $627 to $700.

n Increase advanced-life-support non-emergency runs from $368 to $600.

n Increase advanced-life-support emergency runs from $780 to $880.

n Keep the most complex advanced-life-support runs steady at $1,032.