Hardin County EMS reports steady collections, passes state inspection; 9-1-1 center adds text-to-911 capability

Hardin County EMS reported 1,310 runs in February, of which 1,291 were 9-1-1 responses; the department collected $554,070 in revenue for the month and reported fiscal-year-to-date run volume of 11,077. EMS Director Mark Peterson told the court the department’s annual Kentucky Board of EMS inspection was completed last week with zero deficiencies.

Peterson said monthly collections were below a year-ago figure that had included a large reimbursement but that year-to-date EMS revenue remains ahead of last year by roughly $274,000. He also told magistrates that bad debt from patient billing remains a challenge; while collection has improved with a new billing company, he said returns from accounts sent to collections are limited.

The county’s 9-1-1 center reported it answered 3,662 9-1-1 calls in February, created 4,804 CAD reports and handled 4,953 administrative calls. Dispatch statistics for the month include 1,424 EMS dispatches, 424 fire runs and other agency activity; Elizabethtown accounted for 34.4% of local fire runs in February, the comm center reported.

The 9-1-1 speaker announced the center had enabled text-to-911 service within the past two weeks and said text reports are triaged the same as voice calls. The center also noted it is “NextGen compliant,” which enables improved cell-phone location data and modernized capability for text and other data-enabled 9-1-1 contacts. The speaker recommended the county help publicize the new text-to-911 option, particularly for citizens who are hard of hearing or in situations where calling is unsafe.

Ending: EMS and 9-1-1 asked the court to note the inspection results, continued revenue monitoring and the new text-to-911 capability; no court action was taken on either report.