Amador County - The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to oppose a proposed plan to reconfigure Local Emergency Medical Services Agencies (LEMSA’s). The recently-revealed plan by the State EMS Authority would redraw the boundaries of the current LEMSA’s into seven areas and rework the funding formula for counties. The plan has already drawn opposition from a number of regional medical service agencies and the Regional Council of Rural Counties, which represents member counties in areas of State and Federal advocacy. In a draft policy released by the EMS Authority in early August, the agency proposes to “move away from the current process which provides funding based primarily on ad hoc county groupings and population to a process that is developed to support logical, effective geographical regions.” In other words, said Supervisor Louis Boitano, “the EMS is trying to fast-track their redrawing of the boundary lines with no input from rural counties.” He said the proposal raises “concerns that rural counties could be left out” and lose already limited state funding for local paramedic programs. He referred to a position paper from the Regional EMS Agency Administrators of California, who say “the current economic recession is also having a dramatic effect on state finances which in turn poses a significant threat to the state support of regional LEMSA’s.” The paper says “regional administrators strongly question the basic assumptions used by the EMS Authority in formulating their rational for major system change including the concept of ‘area groupings’ and the proposal to allow limited state funds be used to support non-rural LEMSA’s.” The paper says “those faulty assumptions could result in a significant degradation of EMS services in rural communities throughout the state of California.” The paper’s authors also believe the EMS Authority has placed an “overemphasis” on “the importance of contiguous county membership in a region and…an oversimplification of how patient flow patterns effect regional administration.” Boitano said the current regional system is manageable, and “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” “We just want the agencies input as to why they want to fast-track this,” he said. The board approved a motion by Supervisor Ted Novelli to draft a letter of support for RCRC’s position to allow local EMSA’s to give their input on the proposed plan. The motion was carried unanimously. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.-
font size
decrease font size
increase font size
Amador County - The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to oppose a proposed plan to reconfigure Local Emergency Medical Services Agencies (LEMSA’s). The recently-revealed plan by the State EMS Authority would redraw the boundaries of the current LEMSA’s into seven areas and rework the funding formula for counties. The plan has already drawn opposition from a number of regional medical service agencies and the Regional Council of Rural Counties, which represents member counties in areas of State and Federal advocacy. In a draft policy released by the EMS Authority in early August, the agency proposes to “move away from the current process which provides funding based primarily on ad hoc county groupings and population to a process that is developed to support logical, effective geographical regions.” In other words, said Supervisor Louis Boitano, “the EMS is trying to fast-track their redrawing of the boundary lines with no input from rural counties.” He said the proposal raises “concerns that rural counties could be left out” and lose already limited state funding for local paramedic programs. He referred to a position paper from the Regional EMS Agency Administrators of California, who say “the current economic recession is also having a dramatic effect on state finances which in turn poses a significant threat to the state support of regional LEMSA’s.” The paper says “regional administrators strongly question the basic assumptions used by the EMS Authority in formulating their rational for major system change including the concept of ‘area groupings’ and the proposal to allow limited state funds be used to support non-rural LEMSA’s.” The paper says “those faulty assumptions could result in a significant degradation of EMS services in rural communities throughout the state of California.” The paper’s authors also believe the EMS Authority has placed an “overemphasis” on “the importance of contiguous county membership in a region and…an oversimplification of how patient flow patterns effect regional administration.” Boitano said the current regional system is manageable, and “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” “We just want the agencies input as to why they want to fast-track this,” he said. The board approved a motion by Supervisor Ted Novelli to draft a letter of support for RCRC’s position to allow local EMSA’s to give their input on the proposed plan. The motion was carried unanimously. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Published in
News Archive
Latest from Tom
- Richard Forster previews this week's Amador County Board of Supervisors meeting with host, Tom Slivick. (2 of 2)
- Richard Forster on TSPN TV News December 7, 2015 (1 of 2)
- Ebbetts Pass (State Route 4) Closed for Winter
- State HWY 89 Closed for the Winter
- Richard Forster on TSPN TV News November 23, 2015 (2 of 2)
