Kalispell considers privatizing ambulance services
A Kalispell City Council work session on Monday examined emergency medical service fee scheduling from Great Falls and the option to work with a private medical emergency service provider for ambulance service.
City Manager Doug Russell showed that the city could save more than $136,000 a year by privatizing ambulance services.
“This is just looking at what is Great Falls doing, and what if we adopted those fee schedules,” Russell said. “We started asking that question and put that in a frame of reference.
“It’s still something that’s difficult to forecast.”
Much of the savings would come from uncollected fees and medical supplies the city wouldn’t have to pay for.
The national average for collection rates is about 52 percent, while Kalispell’s annual average is around 55 percent, Kalispell Fire Chief Dave Dedman said. While cities such as Great Falls include the cost of medical supplies — such as intravenous treatment and defibrillator equipment — in their fees, the Kalispell Fire Department, which runs the medical emergency services, pays for its own supplies.
Council member Phil Guiffrida asked if the savings would be turned into an enterprise fund for the city. Russell said it would likely become an enterprise fund, receiving support from council members Tim Kluesner, Rod Kuntz, Chad Graham and Mayor Mark Johnson.
“I like a great deal of what we’re looking at,” Kluesner said. “The creativity falls in line with different ways to fund things. This is the kind of out-of-the-box process people are asking us to do.”
Kalispell is currently the only major Montana city without private emergency medical services. Because privatized records are not open records like municipal fee structures, fire chiefs in a few cities, including Missoula, don’t even know the full fee structure of their emergency medical service providers.
Great Falls uses a company called Great Falls Emergency Services, based in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Great Falls emergency medical fees are slightly higher than Kalispell’s. While Kalispell charges $1,032 for advanced life support, Great Falls charges $1,059. For basic life support, Kalispell charges $700 while Great Falls cost is $900.
“We’re the last one to not have a privatized service,” Guiffrida said. “We’re never going to get [the current fee scheduling] to the point where it’s an enterprise fund. My goal would be to push this toward an enterprise fund and this is how you do it.”
Johnson echoed Guiffrida, saying he would like to see less spending on ambulance services from the city’s general fund, currently $380,000.
“I like the approach we’re looking at. I like seeing this transfer disappear,” Johnson said. “I want to see a little more with the numbers. This is looking a little bit more like where we need to go.”
The next City Council regular meeting is at 7 p.m. on Dec. 28 at City Hall, 201 First Ave. E.
Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.