FULLERTON : Council to Consider Paramedic Fees Hike

Because local hospitals plan to stop supplying paramedic vans with medical supplies, the City Council tonight will consider raising paramedic fees by $25 per call. Residents may buy paramedic service “subscriptions” for $24 a year, avoiding the higher costs of individual paramedic calls to their homes or businesses.

Those who do not subscribe are billed for service and for supplies used. Those fees, $175 per call for minor injuries and $275 per call for critical situations, will be increased to $200 and $300, respectively, if the resolution passes.

“Base” hospitals maintain radio contact with paramedics to direct treatment and guide crews to receiving hospitals that offer appropriate services for each injury.

They once provided bandages, drugs and other supplies for emergency treatment, but will stop providing them Aug. 15 because of a change in Medicare regulations that will prevent hospitals from recouping the cost of paramedic supplies used off-site.

In Fullerton, that adds up to another $45,000 a year, Greene said. The fee increase will cover an estimated $18,000 of the shortfall. A request to transfer $27,000 to the Fire Department budget to cover unanticipated supply costs through June 30, 1996, will accompany the fee increase request tonight.

The Fire Department also will seek an increase in the subscription rate for the 1996-97 budget year, acting Fire Chief Larry Greene said, but the amount will be determined by supply costs this year.