KBEMS must select new medical advisor

By JOHN HULTGREN
Kentucky EMS Connection

FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Board of EMS must select a new state medical advisor because their first selection, Dr. Paul Kearney, doesn't meet the statutory requirements for the position.

The board approved hiring Dr. Kearney last May under a contract that would have paid him $100.00 per hour. Dr. Kearney is affiliated with the University of Kentucky Hospital.

EMS regulations state that the state medical advisor must be board certified in emergency medicine. The job announcement that was published last Spring did not mention that requirement, and Dr. Kearney is not board certified.

KBEMS will begin the process of hiring a new state medical advisor. "We need to have this person in place at the start of the General Assembly," said board chairman Mark Bailey at the KBEMS' meeting this afternoon in Frankfort.

The Kentucky General Assembly begins Jan. 6. The next board meeting is scheduled for Jan. 10.

The board cannot offer the position to their second choice because the position was never properly advertised.

The board was also informed that Gov. Paul Patton yesterday ordered an additional 2 percent budget cut for this year. The board will send a letter to the Governor's Office requesting that no additional budget cuts be imposed on KBEMS because of EMS' additional responsibilities since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In other business:

• The board voted to establish a task force that will explore guidelines for the employment of emergency medical personnel in the healthcare setting. Board members Dr. Eric Bentley and Bailey will recommend appointments for this task force at the boards next meeting in January. Likely appointments include representatives of the Kentucky Hospital Association, the Kentucky Medical Association, and the Kentucky Nurses Association.
• The board decided to divide the $1.35 million Matching Grant Fund (minus the amount required for the emergency fund) by the number of Kentucky counties to determine the maximum amount a county could be awarded next year. Since there are 120 counties, this would set the county maximum at $10,340. Calling this a "straight block grant fund," each county would be eligible for this maximum amount. Any money left over would be added to the $150,000 the emergency fund. Since the county government must be the applicant (and not the individual ambulance service), any ambulance service, municipal or private, is eligible for grant money as long as the county agrees to match the grant. The board will look at ways to allow two annual grant awards to be combined for one purchase starting with its next annual budget (2002 to 2004).
• The board awarded $20,000 from their emergency fund to Anderson County EMS to replace an ambulance that was damaged in a crash. The board also voted to allow Wolfe County Ambulance Service to use $7,415 that was originally awarded from the matching grant program to purchase equipment to instead use that money to replace an ambulance damaged in a crash. The board will also give Wolfe County Ambulance Service an additional $17,585 from their emergency fund for that purchase. No county can be awarded more than $25,000 in a year. Wolfe County lost their only front-line ambulance in a crash last September.
• The board approved a pilot study that would allow EMT-Basics to administer the epi-pen in cases of anaphylaxis where the patient does not have an epi-pen of their own (or a prescription for one). This action was supported by the Kentucky Ambulance Providers Association, which said there was also wide citizen support. The pilot program will begin on Jan. 1 and last for 24 months.
• KBEMS Executive Director Brian Bishop announced that the board has had to abandon their plans to move into the new Coffeetree office. It has been determined that it is too expensive to make the renovations that are needed to that office site. Instead, the board now plans to move into an office in Madison Place, which is near the downtown Frankfort Court House. Bishop reported that the Madison Place office should be available in three months and has dedicated outside parking that can accommodate an ambulance and reserved parking in a nearby parking garage. The board has been using the old EMS Branch office in the Cabinet for Health Services Building temporarily for over a year. That location is no longer easily accessible due to security restrictions.

The next meeting the the board will be held on Jan. 10 at 2:00 p.m. The location will be announced at a later date on their Internet site.

Absent from today's meeting was Shawn Bixler. Mayor Dodd Dixon arrived late.

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