Committee advances bill to reimburse rural EMS for non-transport and "no‑load" calls

The House Health Finance and Policy Committee on March 10 laid over House File 696, as amended, for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill after testimony about financial pressures on rural emergency medical services.

House File 696, introduced by Representative Tim Backer, would create a $3 million pool administered by the state Office of Emergency Medical Services to reimburse eligible ambulance services for certain "no‑load" responses — runs that do not result in patient transport and currently generate no payment for many rural providers. The bill includes a points formula that awards more points to smaller services and yields higher per‑point value for low‑volume providers.

The measure aims to address volunteer and municipally run ambulance services that report significant unpaid responses. "About the last 90 days, I've had 68 responses in the last 98 days that are not billable," said John Fox, interim director at Dodge Center Ambulance. "We still had to staff, we still had to go out the door ... that falls well within that 15 to 25 percentage, so…