EDITORIAL: Sounding the alarm on EMS crisis
When you dial 911 for a medical emergency, you expect a quick response. But a number of strains on emergency medical service agencies are making that more difficult.
In 2018, a report issued by a state Senate commission said emergency medical services in Pennsylvania “are in a crisis,” specifically noting that EMS services are “woefully lacking funding.”
A 2023 report from the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania also called it a crisis and advised: “Action must be taken to avoid further risk to public safety.”
In the seven years between those reports, financial strains on emergency service providers and difficulty finding and retaining workers have worsened, the report found.
Recently, the folks at Brownsville Ambulance Service spent a week teaching children aged 13 to 17 what they do. Their goal was to stoke interest in becoming a first responder at an early age.
It was an incredible way to introduce children to emergency services, but getting people to take the jobs is the lesser of the two problems.
Solving where the money comes from to retain or recruit workers is the biggie.
Insufficient insurance reimbursements, especially from Medicare or Medicaid, or from people who don’t pay their bills leave EMS agencies with little or no profit margin.
Financial difficulties have led to the closure of several EMS stations throughout the state.
Our local counties have also felt the pinch.
Last September, EMS Southwest scaled back its operations in Greene County.
At the time, Greene County Emergency Management Director Richard Policz said of agencies closing or scaling back operations, “It’s not a Greene County crisis. It’s a crisis across the state and the nation right now.”
In 2019, a donation from the Hardy family at Nemacolin kept Fayette EMS from closing its mountain station due to a lack of financial support. That would’ve left residents of Wharton, Stewart and Henry Clay townships, Ohiopyle and Markleysburg with the nearest provider coming miles away from Hopwood.
Pennsylvania’s proposed 2025-26 budget would add $6 million for the next three years to the Emergency Medical Services Operating Fund, which would be disbursed to local stations to help with things like recruitment and retention.
That’s a drop in the bucket. If each of Pennsylvania’s estimated 1,205 EMS agencies received an equal share of that money, they’d end up with $4,979.
It’s past time for state and federal lawmakers to step in and step up by looking for ways to keep these agencies financially solvent.
Otherwise, there may come a day when they or a member of their family have a medical emergency, and there’s no one around to respond.