County EMS seeks whole-blood capability and asks commissioners to review hospital supervision agreements

The county’s EMS department head told commissioners Feb. 17 the department has two agreements under review to enable whole-blood access for pre-hospital trauma care and to update its supervising-hospital arrangement.

On the blood program, the EMS head said the county has agreement drafts with Eskenazi (to supply and manage regulatory components) and Versity (to manage distribution and billing). "They are willing to partner," he said, and described an anticipated rotation model — "once a week, we will do a rotation" — to ensure units are exchanged and used before expiration. He added, "There’s a lot of data that shows that early access to whole blood in trauma patients reduces mortality."

Separately, the EMS head said the county is reviewing a proposed supervising-hospital agreement with Ascension and asked commissioners to review the draft contract; IU Health currently serves as the sponsoring hospital but had previously notified the county of contract termination risk. The EMS director said he was not asking for a vote that day but requested commissioners and counsel review the documents to identify the safest long-term path for the service.

Commissioners asked for copies of the Eskenazi and Ascension agreements and for county counsel to review terms; the EMS head said staff would aim to bring the agreements back for consideration at a future meeting.