JEMS needs more space

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We simply need more space.

That was the message Wednesday from Jay Emergency Medical Service’s director and employees as Jay County Council members toured their facility.

Council also tabled a request to outsource the service’s billing and forwarded a request for changes to its pay scale to the county’s personnel committee.

Council members Bob Vance, Faron Parr, Gary Theurer, Jeanne Houchins, Cindy Newton and Mike Rockwell, absent Ted Champ, toured the emergency medical service facility on Creagor Avenue near Jay County Hospital in Portland at the request of director Eric Moore prior to their regular meeting. Commissioners Mike Leonhard and Chuck Huffman were in attendance as well.

Moore and several JEMS employees showed council members around the facility, which includes an entry way, kitchen, living room area, two bedrooms, a restroom, laundry area, several storage closets and ambulance bays.

He had expressed concern at last month’s council meeting that the medical service building that was constructed in 1993 to house one ambulance now has two crews working out of the same area. He showed council members Wednesday that documents and other supplies are stored in every available space, including the entryway, bedrooms and closets.

In addition, the living area doubles as office space, a meeting room and lunch area.

“We’ve been looking at different ways to try to make accommodations to where we don’t have to live on top of each other, but there’s just not a whole lot of options,” said Moore.

Ideally, Moore said, he would like to have a space twice as big as the current facility, whether by way of expanding or building new.

He emphasized that he’s not looking for immediate action on the issue, but wanted to make council aware of the challenges so they can think about potential solutions to be implemented down the road.

He added that he would like to have three of the service’s four ambulances centrally located in Portland whereas currently there are two each regularly stationed in Portland and Dunkirk.

“I think this is a huge step for you guys to be able to come out here and see for yourself where we’re at and what we do,” he said.

Council tabled a decision on Moore’s suggestion that the emergency medical service outsource its billing.

Moore, who took over leadership of JEMS last month, suggested using Michigan company The AccuMed Group, which specializes in EMS billing and currently works with 50 such departments in Indiana. The proposed contract calls for AccuMed to be paid 6 percent of all fees it collects, the cheapest of three quotes Moore received.

Currently, JEMS has two billing employees, who Moore noted at last month’s meeting are not trained in Medicare and Medicaid billing. They receive a combined total of $89,000 a year in salary and benefits. Based on the service’s collection of about $850,000 in fees last year, Moore estimated the shift to AccuMed would save about $38,000 annually.

“It’s not a personal decision, it’s about business,” said Moore of the possibility of cutting two positions. “It’s best for the business and for the county as far as saving money.”

JEMS has been a strain on the county’s budget in recent years as it required $400,000 in 2014 and $300,000 in 2010 from the rainy day fund, which was also being tapped for a paramedic’s salary.

Several council members expressed concern about eliminating jobs, with Newton noting that one of the billing employees has been on staff for 27 years.

“When it starts laying off people that live here in Jay County, that’s the last thing I want to do,” agreed Champ. “I understand the business, I respect it … I just, myself, am not going to be comfortable cutting two people that’s been here doing a job for us for a while.”

“I think it’s extremely important that we have billing done timely, correctly, with as much money in as possible,” said Houchins. “But I think it’s just as important that we take care of our employees at the same time. So this is not an easy topic to discuss.”

Vance pointed out that the county could see more money collected because the 6-percent contract creates an incentive for AccuMed to collect, and Rockwell wondered if there was a way to increase efficiency without eliminating positions.

Council members also asked about the possibility of having current employees earn new certifications. Moore said that would be possible, but would require them to go back to college.

Parr requested that a representative from AccuMed could attend a future council meeting to give the group a better understanding of what services are being offered.

Council forwarded to the county’s personnel committee a request from Moore to a change in the pay scale for JEMS employees.

Currently, EMT basic employees make $14.50 per hour, EMT advanced employees make $14.82 and paramedics make $15.28.

“Right now we’re having a really hard time attracting and retaining paramedics,” Moore said, adding that surrounding EMS services pay anywhere from $16 to $21 per hour for paramedics. “It’s very hard to compete with those figures.

He proposed decreasing salaries for newly hired EMTs by 10 percent while increasing that of paramedics by 10 percent and shift supervisors and assistant directors by 5 percent. He said the cuts and increases will balance each other out if they are put in place.