Anderson County EMS director gives ‘State of EMS’ address

Posted at 11:03 am June 17, 2016
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Information from WYSH Radio

On Wednesday night, Anderson County Emergency Medical Services Director Nathan Sweet delivered a “State of the EMS” address to county commissioners and members of the public.

The county EMS became an individual entity not funded by the county six years ago, choosing instead to support itself through fees. When the EMS became a stand-alone entity, the county ignored a recommendation from the County Technical Advisory Service—or CTAS—and provided only $215,000 in start-up money rather than the $1.1 million recommended by CTAS. Despite that early limitation, the department was able to support itself…until last year.

In 2015, the County Commission voted to contribute $600,000 to fund the EMS, which found itself hampered by delays in reimbursement from Medicare and serious problems with the third-party billing company used by the EMS.

Sweet vowed to commissioners that once the department’s emergency fund reserve is built back up, he fully intends to repay the 2015 donation, but indicated that he could not provide a timetable as to when that might occur.

In the meantime, changes have been made and officials are hopeful that the EMS will at least break even for the current fiscal year, which ends on June 30.

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