Council adopts ambulance-fee updates, mutual-aid clarifications and MOU with CareFlight

The council unanimously adopted an amendment to the city’s ambulance ordinance to update fee-review practices, establish clearer mutual-aid procedures for inter-facility transfers and to add state-defined exemptions for specialty care transports; it also approved a companion memorandum of understanding (MOU) with CareFlight.

City staff (the fire/EMS chief) told council the ordinance changes are largely housekeeping and intended to align charges with CMS/Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement rules via a biennial review performed by the city’s billing vendor. The chief said the city cannot charge less than Medicare/Medicaid and that the retrospective review ensures fees remain comparable across the region. The chief also described cases in the first quarter of the year in which unknown, non-permitted ambulance entities were called to take transfers and argued the city needs a vetted mutual-aid backup list so hospital transfers are handled by state-approved, properly certified providers.

"We had ambulances that came in from as far as San Antonio and Austin to take transfers out of THR Cleburne. We don't know who they are, we don't have any regulatory ability over them," the chief said, urging clearer procedures and a list of vetted backups for CareFlight to use when it cannot meet transfer times.

The companion MOU requires CareFlight to provide the fire department a list of its approved backup providers and formalizes how CareFlight will coordinate with city responders for emergency and patient-transport services. Council approved both items unanimously.