GC Fire District 3, Columbia EMS reach agreement on new contract

QUINCY — Grant County Fire District 3 and Columbia EMS have reached agreement to amend the existing contract for emergency medical services. Fire District 3 Chief David Durfee said the one-year contract includes a 20% increase in the contract price. 

“Columbia EMS continues to serve as a contracted ambulance transport provider within much of the district and provides (advanced life support) level care during transport,” Durfee wrote in a press release announcing the agreement.  

Leslie Siebert, owner of Columbia EMS, said the amendment increases the GCFD 3 yearly contract price to about $256,130. Durfee said the agreement is just between the fire district and the ambulance service.  

“The city still has its own separate agreement with Columbia EMS,” Durfee said in a separate interview.  

A provision was made for 2025 as well. 

“We gave them a one-time payment for 2025 with the 20% increase,” he said.  

Additional reporting requirements were added as part of the agreement, including information on call volume, response times and utilization, Durfee said.  

The city of Quincy contracts with GCFD 3 for fire services and with Columbia EMS for ambulance services. Siebert said the city pays Columbia EMS about $350,600 per year. The two contracts total about $606,750 per year. 

Columbia EMS provides ALS services to most, but not all, of GCFD 3, and as a result the district also has contracts with Royal Slope-Rescue-EMS and Lifeline Ambulance. Lifeline also is a private company and provides ALS and transport services in and around Ephrata. 

Emergency medical services are expensive – a study commissioned by GCFD 3 and Quincy city officials estimated an annual cost of as much as $1.8 million if the fire district provided an entire ambulance program. Durfee said that while it probably wouldn’t cost that much, it would be expensive.  

“EMS is such a complex issue,” he said.  

EMS providers are reimbursed by insurance for the patients that have it, but Siebert said reimbursement differs substantially from one insurance provider to another.  

“Medicare and Medicaid make it difficult for us to recover our costs,” she said in response to an email from the Columbia Basin Herald. “Reimbursement rates are federally capped, meaning payments do not reflect the actual cost of providing care. This applies equally to private and public EMS agencies.” 

Siebert said about two-thirds of the population in the Columbia EMS service area are Medicare or Medicaid patients.  

The study recommended that the agencies and business providing EMS, or paying for it, work to strengthen the system, which is, Durfee said, the goal of an initiative to add a paramedic to GCFD 3’s staff. That paramedic will work out of the George fire station, he said. 

“We’re in the beginning stages,” he said.  

The fire district will add a “fire-based advanced life support intercept unit,” an SUV that would be stocked with advanced lifesaving equipment, he said.  

“The district is satisfied with the level of service currently being provided,” Durfee said in the press release. “The district does not currently have plans to become a transporting agency and remains focused on its role in providing emergency medical response and system coordination. At the same time, the district is committed to ensuring appropriate contingency plans are in place to maintain reliable service for the community.”