Wyoming officials, advocates propose consolidated billing and targeted subsidies to shore up rural EMS

State health officials and local leaders urged the Joint Judiciary and Labor, Health & Social Services committees on Monday to pursue practical fixes — including a statewide consolidated billing contract and targeted subsidies — to address declining volunteerism and a growing gap between the fixed costs of ambulance readiness and the revenue small services can bill. "The prioritized concepts include consolidated billing," Curtis Biggs of the governor's office told the committee as the report's sponsors outlined options.

The matter matters because ambulance readiness is expensive and most calls are low‑reimbursement, local patient contacts rather than high‑profile highway rescues. Department of Health deputy director Franz Fuchs told the committee there are about 78,000 EMS calls in the state each year, of which roughly 51,000 are reimbursable and about 34 percent are not billable because they do not result in a transport. He and other witnesses said that mismatch leaves a recurring subsidy gap: the report…