Richland County Ambulance Service Report

The mission of the Richland County Ambulance Service is to provide efficient, high quality emergency medical care and safe transportation to a medical facility for any resident or visitor of the service area. New Emergency Services Director, Mike Jessen, presented a report to the Richland County Board of Supervisors Tuesday night (July 16). Jessen has 13 years of fire and EMS experience, and is currently licensed as a Critical Care Paramedic.

The Richland County Ambulance Service is made up of one full-time Director, one full-time Administrative Secretary, four full-time A-EMT positions, 10 part-time / casual positions, and six paid on call positions. Revenues for the department come from service reimbursements, contract payments, grants, and donations. The department is currently working with Wisconsin Office of Rural health and other industry experts to establish what financial sustainability for the service will look like. The cost of people and “stuff” has grown exponentially, yet revenues have not kept pace. Richland County EMS has a 70% Medicare and Medicaid payer-ship within its service area.

The department is also one of the lowest paying EMS departments in the state which is not only harming recruitment but now retention of current staff. Last year the department responded to over 1,200 calls for service. Some of these calls were inter-facility transfers. As the community ages and reliance on EMS grows, the county cannot anticipate a reduction in call volume. Last week alone the department responded to 32 calls for service with 19 of those calls in a 48 hour period. Jessen stated that the department is also experiencing much higher instances of simultaneous calls for service, which solidifies the need to staff a second ambulance 24/7.