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Carroll County approves contracts to bolster EMS reimbursements and formalize air-crew transports
Summary
The Carroll County Board authorized a renewal with a reimbursement consultant that charges a 9% fee on recovered funds and approved a memorandum with Air Methods to reimburse county crews $600 per unloaded air transport plus mileage; supervisors noted possible future Medicare reimbursement changes and directed staff to monitor impacts.
The Carroll County Board of Supervisors on Monday authorized two agreements intended to stabilize emergency medical revenue and formalize transport logistics.
Jamie, the meeting presenter, told the board the county uses a consultant to prepare Medicare and Medicaid paperwork under the GMT program and that the firm’s fee remains 9% of recovered revenue. "Their price is 9% of what we bring in on that unit," she said, and told supervisors the program has brought in "over $181,000 so far this year" (the transcript figure was not fully clear). The board moved and approved authorizing the chair to sign the agreement.
The board also approved a memorandum of understanding with Air Methods to compensate county staff who shuttle air crews and patients between the airport and the hospital when the helipad is unavailable or unusable because of weather or construction. Under the agreement, the county will be compensated $600 for the unloaded portion of a transport and will bill a per-mile rate for long transfers that exceed local thresholds. "So what this understanding does is we compensate $600 every time we do that for the unloaded portion of that transport," Jamie said.
Supervisors questioned whether the arrangement would apply to scene landings and were told the MOU covers hospital-to-airport moves only; on-scene operations and double-billing are handled separately. Board members voiced general support and approved the memorandum by voice vote.
Why it matters: The two items aim to preserve county revenue that offsets EMS costs and to provide a clear, consistent payment framework for county crews that support air medical transfers. Supervisors flagged a possible federal change that could cap some reimbursements in the future and asked staff to monitor proposals and report back if the county’s revenue picture changes.
Next steps: Staff will finalize signatures and continue monitoring state and federal reimbursement rule changes that could affect the program’s viability. The board did not set additional conditions at the meeting.
