Hospital CEO concerned about ambulance transfer delays

Sweetwater Medics employee Grant Parker speaks with personnel at Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County to prepare them for an incoming patient in March.

Ryan James/Rocket-Miner

Ryan James/Rocket-Miner Staff Reporter

The last few months have been turbulent and uncertain for emergency medical services in Rock Springs.

First, the Sweetwater County Commission turned down a requested subsidy for Sweetwater Medics ambulance company because it was competing with Rock Springs Regional Ambulance.

When Regional closed its doors, the commissioners approved temporary funding for Sweetwater Medics to cover 911 calls as the only ambulance provider.

A monthly subsidy will go into effect July 1.

However, the contract does not cover hospital transfers, only 911 coverage.

At the June 6 board meeting for Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County, CEO Jerry Klein said transfers for five or six patients to and from the hospital had been delayed because Sweetwater Medics was understaffed.

If these delays became a pattern, Klein said the hospital would contract with another provider, which would take away much of Sweetwater Medics' revenue and potentially put the company out of business.

"If we had a consistent pattern of that happening, it wouldn't take that long, because we and they are putting our patients at risk. We are not going to put our patients at risk," Klein said.

The transfers and the subsidy are intertwined, commissioner Reid West said, because Sweetwater Medics uses revenue earned from the transfers to determine how much they will need for 911 calls.

"If they lose that transfer business, they're going to be back asking for a higher subsidy and secondly, we gave them stopgap funding for April, May and June," West said. "It was our understanding that that money was provided so that we wouldn't lose any ambulance coverage."

West said company co-founder Ron Gatti assured him that the problem would be resolved and he told Gatti it was important to mend any damage done to the relationship with the hospital.

The transfer problems occurred around the same time the commissioners approved the ambulance subsidy, Klein said, and after West said the subsidy would cover the purchase of two more ambulances. He said since this time there have been no more transfer denials.

Other transfer alternatives include calling ambulance companies in Salt Lake City and putting a patient on a fixed-wing, medical plane. Both options are incredibly expensive, Klein said, and are not long-term solutions.

"You need to step up, or admit you can't do it," Klein said.

SWEETWATER MEDICS RESPONSE

Sweetwater Medics co-founder Steve Kourbelas said the transition since Sweetwater Medics became the only ambulance provider in Rock Springs has been a heavy burden on the company for the past few months.

"We guarantee the same level of service we've always had with the hospital. There were times before the contract with the county was approved when we couldn't take transfers," Kourbelas said. "To say that we can guarantee a transfer 100 percent of the time would be an inaccurate statement on our part. If there are two transfers to Salt Lake and then a third one hits, we can't staff seven or eight ambulances at a time."

Because the company took about half of the original stopgap funding, the budget has been very tight, Kourbelas said.

"Our staffing level is at a minimum, and I don't think that was communicated to the hospital at the time we had to turn down that transfer," Kourbelas said. "We've asked the hospital to bear with us until we get our staffing level back up to the appropriate levels. I fully suspect once we get settled into our new position that everything's going to operate the way it's been operating for years. I don't think there'll be an issue with it."

Since it became the only emergency medical service provider, Sweetwater Medics has taken about 40 transfers to Salt Lake City and hundreds of in-town transfers, Kourbelas said.

Sweetwater Medics is working with the hospital to establish a policy that sets clear, realistic expectations for both the company and the hospital.

"The hospital is one of our main customers, and we want to keep their satisfaction at the highest level," Kourbelas said. "We don't want to miss out on transfers. That's a large revenue stream for the company."

Sweetwater Medics will hire another paramedic, which will allow the company to have two 24-hour crews available.

Additionally, the company has purchased a new ambulance in preparation for the National High School Finals Rodeo and is negotiating with a leasing company to purchase another, which would give them a total of five.