A tale of two headlines: $120 million one-time EMS funding bill introduced in MN legislature

Two headlines about the EMS crisis in rural Minnesota  captured my attention this week.

At MinnPost on Tuesday, Ava Kian reported Greater Minnesota cities seek funding for EMS delivery, infrastructure in ’24 session.

She begins:

Two organizations that represent Minnesota cities outside the Twin Cities region hope the Legislature will address several challenges facing their member cities, including stress on Emergency Medical Systems and infrastructure needs. 

The Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities and the League of Minnesota Cities, whose requests often overlap, are asking that funding for those two areas be included in this year’s bonding bill. 

Funding for EMS

One of those requests is for around $120 million to help EMS programs function. 

“Over the last two years, our communities have been literally ringing alarm bells about the fragility of the system,” Bradley Peterson, CGMC’s executive director, said during a Zoom call about the organization’s legislative priorities. “Reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid and private insurance are simply not keeping up with the services provided. The fee-for-service model is, frankly, in many of our communities, not sustainable.”  .  . .

There’s currently an EMS task force in the Legislature. Last week, the task force met and discussed challenges with reimbursement rates. Grant Hauschild, DFL-Hermantown, said at the task force meeting that the problem is uniquely affecting rural areas because in areas that don’t have private EMS systems, the responsibility of paying for licensing falls on cities.

“I do think that this is a distinctly rural challenge … from a financial perspective it feels like the weight is on our rural communities,” he said. “There is certainly a short-term crisis that we need to figure out – my hope is this session – at least for some of those most targeted areas where this is a big crisis.”  . . .

Bluestem suspects that something was missing from the Zoom call. 

On  Monday, Forum Communications' capitol press staffer Mark Wasson reported in Rural DFLers propose $120 million to fund struggling EMS in Greater Minnesota:

A one-time, $120 million grant is proposed to help close a funding gap for emergency medical services across Greater Minnesota.

The bill, SF 3886, was introduced and had its first reading on Monday, Feb. 19. It was referred to the Senate Taxes Committee. Co-authors of the bill are Sen. Grant Hauschild, DFL-Hermantown, and Sen. Robert Kupec, DFL-Moorhead.

EMS providers across the state have been put in a financial hole due to Medicare and Medicaid only partially funding services, Hauschild said.

"The truth is, if we had a fix at the federal level on reimbursement rates, we would not be in this crisis," he said. He said he expects the bill to be a starting point to address the needs of EMS providers across the state.

The $120 million would bring those services back to square one but further funding and fixes at the state and federal level are needed. Low pay, employee retention and insufficient federal reimbursement have left much of Greater Minnesota with unacceptably slow emergency response times — up to 90 minutes in some places.. . .

It's behind a subscribers-only paywall, so maybe MinnPost missed it. While I'm used to MinnPost using stock photos of livestock that don't match dairy cows milked by particular producers covering, this omission seems to be a bit more derelict.

Chief author of HF3992, the House companion bill, is Dave Lislegard, DFL-Aurora; it's a bipartisan bill with twelve authors, eight Republicans and four DFLers.

Will the bill become law? Hauschild expressed some reservations to the Forum Communications' reporter:

. . . While the funding is badly needed in Greater Minnesota, Hauschild said he is not sure if the bill will pass, given it is not a budget year and the bill is a stop-gap measure.

"At the end of the day, we have to figure out a more sustainable structure for consistent funding and reforms that make (EMS) more efficient and effective," he said.

Bluestem hopes Hauschild is incorrect and the Minnesota legislature comes up with the money.

Photo: A Browns Valley, Minn. ambulance./ Browns Valley Ambulance/Facebook via Minn. EMS task force begins work on community feedback.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.

I'm on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6