Ariola and Kristoff discuss EMS staffing shortfall and rate changes

Do you believe that you have enough EMS headcount on staff available now for the units?

And are they fully operational at capacity?

And if not, what is the shortfall?

So we're definitely not fully staffed.

So we're under our budgeted headcount.

Right now for EMS, our budgeted headcount is 4,540.

And we are at 4,250.

So we're 290 under budgeted headcount.

And we expect to lose another 500 plus EMS personnel over the next four firefighter classes.

Okay.

All right, the executive budget projects savings beginning in FY27 through higher federal and state ambulance reimbursement rates, correct?

What specific rate changes are driving this projection and how have those rates been formally adopted by the relevant state and federal agencies or are they still pending as well?

So there are the two.

So treatment in place, which supports 10.1 million of the revenue increase, has been approved.

So New York State had a Medicaid state plan amendment that they had submitted to federal CMS, and that was approved back in February.

New York State has only recently distributed guidance on how to proceed with the technical details of billing for that.

But that is all set, and we anticipate that proceeding shortly.

The second one is raising our EMS rates.

So EMS rates are something that we can set on our own that doesn't require state or federal approval.

It goes through the city's rulemaking process.

And so we have gone through that process.

You know, we had our initial public notice, we had our public hearing, and the final rule was published in the city record just last week, which is well on time for the rates to be effective July 1st.