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Local EMS urges Medicaid billing for community paramedicine under S.B. 220
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Summary
An assistant fire chief said Senate Bill 220 would let community paramedicine bill Ohio Medicaid for social‑service visits, helping sustain local programs that reduce 911 calls and hospitalizations, citing a local case that reportedly saved about $130,000 in emergency costs.
Will Mueller, assistant fire chief for Coleraine Township Department of Fire and EMS, urged the committee to pass S.B. 220 to allow community paramedicine programs to bill Ohio Medicaid for social‑service visits. Mueller said local pilot programs have reduced 911 calls for high‑utilizers, lowered hospital readmissions for chronic conditions, and improved connections to social services and medication management.
Mueller described a case study of a resident he called "John," a 42‑year‑old who made 73 emergency calls in 12 months before being enrolled in a community paramedicine program; Mueller said the patient's calls dropped to four in the following year with no hospital transports and an estimated $130,000 in direct emergency cost savings.
Proponents told the committee that current community paramedicine pilots are funded from local fire department budgets and that Medicaid billing would provide a sustainable funding model to expand upstream services and reduce downstream emergency costs.
No committee questions were recorded in the provided transcript; the chair closed S.B. 220's second hearing after oral proponent testimony.
