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EMS providers urge Jefferson County to withdraw proposed EMS grant, warn municipal ambulance risk
Summary
Local EMS leaders told the Jefferson County Health & Human Services Committee they oppose a county application to a New York State rural health EMS grant, saying it duplicates existing services, could force a municipal Certificate of Need and compete with private and nonprofit ambulance providers.
Bruce Wright, president and CEO of Guilfoyle Ambulance Service and chair of the Jefferson County EMS advisory board, and Dominic Doldo, vice president of emergency services and security for Carthage Area Hospital, spoke during public comment at the Health & Human Services Committee meeting and urged county legislators to reconsider a county grant application to the New York State Department of Health.
Wright said the grant, which he said was for $500,000 split among 10 counties and awarded to Jefferson County, requests funding for three items: a bariatric-capable ambulance, a so-called "fly car" (a paramedic intercept SUV that does not provide patient transport) and billing changes tied to mutual-aid ambulance responses. "This is a service that isn't needed because it's already being taken care of by not only Guilfoyle Ambulance, but other ambulance agencies in this county," Wright said, adding that 11 of the 13 ambulances in the county already are staffed at the paramedic level.
Wright also said Guilfoyle Ambulance is retrofitting an ambulance to be bariatric-capable and that the proposed fly car would risk drawing Jefferson County into operating ambulance assets that compete with private and nonprofit providers. "Once that door is opened, it gives the county the ability to get into that service, which is gonna start using taxpayer money to compete with private business and private not for profits around the county," he said. Wright disputed claims in the grant that mutual-aid providers cannot bill for services, calling that "not true" and saying billing can be addressed by agreements between neighboring agencies.
Doldo, speaking afterward, said the Northstar Health Alliance and Carthage Area Hospital previously sought a Certificate of Need (CON) for an ambulance service, and that the regional EMS council voted against a finding of public need for another ambulance in the proposed area. He also said a county municipal CON could circumvent the CON process private providers must follow. "If the county proposes to allow Samaritan Medical Center to operate an EMS vehicle, which is a municipal CON on the county's municipal CON, we will request that courtesy to be extended to us," Doldo said, adding that his comments echoed those he raised earlier at the EMS advisory board.
Neither Wright nor Doldo proposed a specific alternative to the grant; both cited concerns that the grant's proposals duplicate existing capacity and raise regulatory hurdles. Wright also said the county did not bring the application to the EMS advisory board for formal review, and he criticized parts of the grant application as business decisions rather than system needs.
The committee did not vote on the grant application during the meeting. An agenda item titled "Authorizing an agreement in connection with New York State Department of Health County Emergency Medical Services support grant and amending the 2025 County budget in relation thereto" was listed but, according to the transcript, received "no motion" and was not advanced that evening.
