PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Three months in, Presque Isle’s city-run ambulance service is running smoothly but aiming for more volume, according to fire chief Darrell White.
In a memo to the Presque Isle City Council, White said the city government’s foray into the emergency services business is going “very well,” with quick response and transport times and smooth collaboration with the emergency room staff at The Aroostook Medical Center.
The Presque Isle City Council approved the plans for the city-run E-911 service last September, despite concerns raised by TAMC officials that it could negatively affect the hospital’s Crown Ambulance service and create challenges in coordinating emergency services.
In the run-up to April, TAMC and the city ran into disagreements over issues such as long-distance patient transfers between healthcare facilities — a type of service which comes with significant reimbursement revenue.
But the two organizations have managed the transition well and are working together on ensuring high quality emergency care, TAMC president Greg LaFrancois said in a May interview.
Presque Isle’s ambulance service is now the main provider for residents within the Star City, while TAMC’s Crown Ambulance serves 18 communities in central Aroostook County and has since opened a new ambulance station in Washburn, joining stations in Mars Hill, Limestone, and Presque Isle.
City officials are expecting the E-911 service will be financially self-sustaining and possibly a modest source of income. But that will depend on steady ambulance calls, transfers and the associated health insurance reimbursements.
White, who oversees the city’s 911 service, said the service is “a little behind in our call volume predictions” since starting in April.
For April and May, the city’s service made 187 ambulance runs, White said. (June figures are not yet available.) Of those calls, about 44 percent were covered by Medicare, 14 percent by Medicaid, 17 percent by private insurance, and 7 percent by people who self-pay, he reported. About 16 percent of the calls were “non-billable.”
The city service also has performed three long-distance transfers from Cary Medical Center in Caribou and several local transfers from TAMC, White said.
One issue with the lower-than-expected volume is that the Presque Isle Rehab and Nursing Center “is calling Crown Ambulance directly and not using the E-911 system,” White said.
If that continues, White said he estimates that the city’s E-911 service will have 300 fewer calls per year than projected.
“It is our hope that we can get those calls and we have been trying to get a meeting with the nursing home administrator so that we can explain the benefits of using the city’s service,” White said.
He added that the city is reaching out to Houlton Regional Hospital and Northern Maine Medical Center to offer long-distance transfer services when their EMS providers are unavailable.
White said he also wants to start a conversation with surrounding communities about the possibility of “Presque Isle providing them with EMS services.” White said he thinks this type of regional service “could produce cost savings or efficiencies for us all.”
