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If an SUV first shows up at your front door in the future when you call 9-1-1 instead of an ambulance, don’t be surprised.
A Sprint Medic pilot program to be implemented in St. Louis County is part of a $30 million Emergency Medical Services (EMS) funding package approved by the 2024 Minnesota Legislature.
The $6 million Sprint Medic pilot program will send an EMS provider in a sport utility vehicle (SU V) to emergency calls in St. Louis and Otter Tail counties, according to Dylan Ferguson, Minnesota Emergency Service Regulatory Board executive director.
“It will be essentially an SUV that is packed with advanced life support equipment and an advanced life support provider,” Ferguson said. “The thought is that these sprint medics will be able to decrease the time to have an advanced life support provider respond. By using this grant funding to forward deploy in a chase car, it can decrease the time it takes to be able to make contact.”
Iron Range EMS officials say they still don’t know details on how the Sprint Medic program will work.
The Sprint Medic program and $24 million in additional grant funding that will go to help EMS services across the state, was discussed Monday a meeting in Duluth hosted by the Arrowhead EMS Association.
Hibbing Fire Chief Erik Jankila and Virginia Fire Chief Scott Fredrickson both attended.
“We just don’t know what we don’t know yet,” Fredrickson said. “We don’t have any details yet other than a ballpark figure coming our way. I heard $180,000. I’m super appreciative of that. But it doesn’t cover our losses from 2022.”
“Nobody has an answer,” Jankila said. “I believe we will be about the same amount as Virginia, but none of that is for sure.”
Fredrickson said the EMS group plans to meet at least monthly in working toward a regional collaborative effort. Due to inadequate Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, many rural EMS providers in the state haven’t been able to make ends meet.
Legislators sought $120 million during the legislative session to help EMS providers. However, $30 million was the final amount approved. Although EMS providers don’t yet have all the details on how the $6 million Sprint Medic funding and $24 million in grants to EMS providers will be distributed, here’s what Ferguson said is planned.
The first 40 percent of the $24 million will be disbursed based on the square-mile primary service area of EMS providers, Ferguson said. “Northeast Minnesota in particular has some of the largest primary service areas in the state,” Ferguson said. “So I would expect based on the 40 percent per square mile, I would guess a good portion of that will go to the Iron Range.”
The second 40 percent of the $24 million will be distributed to EMS providers on a sliding scale based on the number of EMS responses by an EMS service in 2023, Ferguson said.
Responses totaling 1-500 for the year will be weighted with 10 points for each response; responses 501-1,500 receiving five points each; and responses 1,501-2,500 zero points, Ferguson said.
Responses above 2,501 will result in points being taken away, although no EMS service can fall below zero points, Ferguson said.
The last 20 percent will be distributed in equal shares granted across-theboard to EMS services, Ferguson said.
The formula, he said, is designed to weigh more heavily in favor of rural EMS services.
The $24 million will be paid out to EMS services Dec. 26, 2024, by the Minnesota Department of Revenue, Ferguson said.
Applications for the funding are due by Sept. 16, 2024, Ferguson said.
“Until we get applications and data points, I can’t say definitely who will get what,” Ferguson said.
Money from the $24 million can be used by EMS providers for a variety of needs, Ferguson said.
Included are general operating expenses, fuel costs, supply costs, capital expenses, medical equipment, recruitment and retention, help with fundraising and more, Ferguson said.
Meanwhile, details on how the Sprint Medic program will work are still being formulated. Whether St. Louis County, the largest county geographically east of the Mississippi River, could have multiple Sprint Medics, isn’t known yet, Ferguson said.
“I can’t project how many SUV’s in each county yet,” Ferguson said. “We will have the pilot program in place for a couple of years and then generate recommendations to the legislature.”
Virginia’s EMS has a service area of 640 square miles, Fredrickson said.
Fredrickson said it’s his opinion that Sprint Medics should respond to calls in conjunction with EMS transport services responding at the same time.
“If transport is not needed, you could cancel the transport,” Fredrickson said.
In Hibbing, the ambulance service covers about 600 square miles, Jankila said.
“I think the sprint medic program is a good idea as long as the medical reimbursement and payment stuff is analyzed,” Jankila said. “But I don’t know who will be selected and the county is so big. I don’t know how we do it with our current staffing levels and to get the vast amount of coverage, I don’t know how you could get it without having two (sprint medics).”
A sprint medic trained as a paramedic could stabilize a patient until an ambulance arrives, Jankila said.
But because of the county’s size, there’s also the question of response time by a sprint medic to rural areas already served by Basic Life Support services that may be able to respond quicker to a call, Jankila said.
Even though the $30 million won’t solve EMS shortfalls, Fredrickson said he’s glad the EMS issue has been raised.
“I’m appreciative of the conversations that took place in the legislature,” Fredrickson said. “Hopefully, that will continue.”
