Panora Emergency Medical Services could see a revenue increase of about $65,000 annually through a state grant program.

Panora EMS Director Joe Hupp spoke at the recent city council meeting about how the Iowa EMS Association is in talks with the Iowa Department of Human Services about using the Ground Emergency Medical Transportation (GEMT) program to reimburse rural EMS agencies for Medicaid transport expenses. Hupp describes the financial losses his agency had last year, “We did 91 Medicaid transports, we billed out $139,000 and we only collected $12,000. So they’re finding out that that’s putting a hardship or burden on the departments, so they’ve decided to help us out and correct that.”

Hupp says they are waiting for final approval from DHS for the program to take effect July 1st. If so, he says GEMT would reimburse ambulance services an average of $1,138 per call to start off, but Panora EMS would have to give 40% of that to DHS for administrative fees. Still, based on last year’s number of 91 Medicaid transports, this could give them about $65,000 a year, a significant revenue boost for an agency that struggles to keep financially afloat. Hupp added that so far this year they’ve responded to 100 more calls than last year.