PA State Rep. Martin Causer  

The EMS Task Force met last evening to continue our ongoing conversation about how to help our ambulance companies keep running despite growing financial and staffing challenges.

While a recent state law significantly increased the Medicaid reimbursement rate for mileage and services, the group talked about the need for local municipalities to do more to support the cost of readiness – the cost of having an equipped ambulance and crew ready to respond at a moment’s notice.

We also talked about training and staffing, and how to better ensure people who complete EMS training follow through by taking the national certification exam and then put what they have learned into practice.

I want to thank the more than three dozen people who took the time to participate in the meeting and extend a special thanks to Anthony Martin, recently appointed director of the Bureau of EMS within the Pennsylvania Department of Health, and Tom McElree, executive director of EMS West. I am equally grateful to our county emergency services directors – Marty Kim in Cameron, Nathan Burgett in McKean and Glenn Dunn in Potter – for sharing county-specific statistics about their call volumes.

Our next step is to form small groups in each county to work toward solutions to the unique problems they face. If you are interested in participating, please contact my Bradford office at 814-362-4400.