(photo courtesy North Area Volunteer Ambulance Corps Facebook page)

JASON KLAIBER
STAFF WRITER

In the wake of recently proposed cuts to their funding, already-struggling ambulance providers statewide have found themselves backed into a tighter corner.

Under Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget proposal, New York State plans to erase $190 million in Medicaid reimbursement to these companies, a figure the federal government would match dollar for dollar at the minimum.

In effect Medicare would pay for 80 percent and Medicaid would cover the remainder of the allowed service charge for a call to a dual-eligible beneficiary. The state would no longer pay that 20 percent, known as crossover funding.

Additionally, the New York State Department of Health estimated that its ambulance providers are underpaid to the tune of $31 million annually. The supplemental funds in place to partially compensate them would also be eliminated.

“All of these cuts are putting us as providers in a crisis situation,” Trish Hansen, the manager for the Cortland division of TLC Emergency Medical Services, said.

The North Area Volunteer Ambulance Corps, a non-profit generally shortened in name to NAVAC, has 80 volunteers and 42 paid employees on board to respond to upwards of 6,800 emergency calls a year.

Relying solely on fundraising and the billing of insurance companies rather than tax support, the North Syracuse operation could lose as much as $80,000 over one year as a result of these budget cuts, according to their director of operations Evan Grenier.

NAVAC staffs four ambulances a day, but Grenier said they might be forced to drop at least one from the equation as a cost-saving measure, which could in turn lengthen response delays.

“It’s going to be a big economic impact on many of us,” Grenier said. “There’s a lot of agencies in the area that are really on dire financial straits. If those services fold because of this, which may happen, then other agencies have to make up the difference.”

Ron Kenney, the director of operations for Skaneateles Ambulance Volunteer Emergency Services (SAVES), said purchasing new equipment and giving employees raises would be more difficult under the proposal.

“We really want the word to get out there that this is just not a good way to try to recover funds or balance the budget,” Kenney said. “We’re already struggling as EMS in general.”

Nick Corbishley, an operations manager for American Medical Response (AMR), said he expects no short-term changes for his company.

The Central New York division of AMR, the largest ambulance service provider in the United States, answers to over 60,000 calls a year in Syracuse and its surrounding townships with a fleet of over a dozen ambulances.

“Our response times are going to remain low so that we get to someone as quickly as possible,” Corbishley said. “The safety of the public will not be put at risk.”

He said, however, that the funding cuts will have long-term effects on every ambulance provider in the state, including AMR.

“We are optimistic, but there is still a concern,” Corbishley said.

Hansen said New York’s ambulance services deserve better.

“Our providers are saving lives every single day,” she said. “We’re charged with being there for the sick and injured. The state has to be there for us.”