The Davis County Comission and the county's Emergency Medical Services council have approved a request by the sheriff's department to license a second ambulance in the county's north end to handle patient transfer requests.
The sheriff's department operates the sole ambulance in the county's north end. It is staffed by paramedics and based at Humana Hospital Davis North in Layton.Sgt. Mick Preysz told commissioners and the EMS council last week that the department has been doing patient transfers for a couple of years mostly as a public service.
But demand has increased to the point where it is cutting into the county's emergency response capability, Preysz said. If a second ambulance is not put into service to handle patient transfers, the sheriff's department will have to stop doing them, he said.
By applying for a state license to operate a second ambulance, the department can draw on resources that are already available for staffing and equipment, Preysz said, plus be eligible for reimbursement from insurance companies.
Patient transfers involve taking a patient from one hospital to another, to a nursing or extended care facility, or for therapy, according to Preysz. Many of those transfers involve taking the sole ambulance and paramedics to staff it out of the county, for as long as an hour, he said.
By putting a second surplus ambulance into service and staffing it with on-call paramedics instead of on-duty paramedics, the department can continue to provide the service in the north end without cutting into its emergency response capability.
The county's south end has four ambulances available through the Bountiful and South Davis fire departments. Both of those agencies have endorsed the proposal because the transfer service will be limited to the county's north end and not infringe on their operations.
Preysz said the sheriff's department did 100 patient transfers in 1987, 178 in 1988, and did 115 in the first half of this year.
It has cost the department $6,600 so far this year, Preysz said, adding if the service is licensed by the state it can bill insurance companies for the transfers instead of using tax dollars.
Preysz estimated that by licensing the service, the county could earn $32,000 to $33,000 annually doing patient transfers.
After receiving approval from the county commission and EMS, Preysz said the proposal will be submitted to the state emergency medical services council and a public hearing, probably in December, will be held to allow other ambulance service providers, including privately owned services, to respond to the proposal.