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Comprehensive rural EMS bill would create operational-deficit grant pool; testimony estimates $40 million annual need
Summary
Senate File 10-80 would establish annual operational-deficit grants for licensed ambulance services outside the metro area and requires reporting and audit authority; witnesses estimated roughly $40 million per year in funding need.
Senate File 10-80, presented by Senator Hauschildt and amended in committee (A2 adopted), would establish a structured grant program to assist licensed ambulance services that can demonstrate operational deficits, with an emphasis on Greater Minnesota and rural primary service areas.
Under the amendment and bill text, eligible applicants include licensed services that can document an operational deficit; licensees whose primary service area lies mostly within the seven-county Twin Cities metro or within Duluth, Mankato, St. Cloud, or Rochester would be excluded. The program would require annual applications, reporting to the Office of Emergency Medical Services, and grants would be accompanied by an audit authority focused on applicant financial data.
Senator Hauschildt said the change would cost approximately $40 million per year across Greater Minnesota. Testimony from Mark Ebeling, operations manager for Perham Area EMS, described a 400-square-mile primary service area with roughly 1,600 calls per year, an average cost per response of about $1,292 in 2023 and an average reimbursement per response of $997, which produced a net operating deficit. Gina Suikkanen, EMS director for Tower Ambulance, described long response and transport times (often an hour and a half to two hours per call), a high Medicare/Medicaid payer mix (70–80 percent), and operational strains that required local subsidy for the first time.
Nathan Zacharias of the Association of Minnesota Counties testified in support and urged a long-term funding model. Eric Simonson (Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities) clarified that the A2 amendment excluded licenses primarily within metro counties and explicitly exempted Mayo Clinic-related service areas in the named regional centers; other Greater Minnesota providers remain eligible if they demonstrate an operating deficit.
Committee members pressed on eligibility details and equity for metro-owned providers that serve rural areas (for example, North Memorial); authors said they would confirm specific cases with agency staff. Senators and local officials repeatedly described EMS as a critical service and urged a sustainable funding source to prevent further closures.
Senate File 10-80, as amended, was laid over for possible inclusion.
