KBEMS approves 5% budget cut

By JOHN HULTGREN
Kentucky EMS Connection

FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Board of EMS approved a budget yesterday that cuts $139,000 from their previous budget of nearly $2.5 million.

KBEMS staff member Ashley Davis, who is responsible for Budget and Personnel, explained to the board that $85,500 was cut when Governor Paul Patton called for the first budget cut last year. After Patton called for a second budget cut, an additional $53,500 was lost. Davis also explained that the current budget would be "flat-lined" for five years.

Correction: According to Davis, the budget is flat-lined for the budget biennium, which is two years. (2.11.02)

Apparently $31,000 of this cut came from the Matching Grant Fund.

The discussion that the board had with Davis gave the impression that the KBEMS office had submitted the budget to the Governor's Office without board approval, as required by statute.

"I am not willing to vote on a budget that takes money away from the providers," KBEMS chairman Mark Bailey said during the meeting.

Davis explained, however, that the budget had already been submitted and accepted by the Governor's Office.

The board then voted to approve the budget after board member Dr. Eric Bentley said "We need to admit that we have failed, and we are too late." 

Bailey said "We will try to get the money back where it rightfully belongs" and "We need to make a statement that this will not happen again."

Earlier in the meeting, the board apparently set a precedent regarding board member attendance at board meetings.

Current regulations state that any board member who misses three meetings in a year will be considered to have resigned from the board and cannot be reappointed to the board for 10 years. Although the statute has no provision for an excused absence, the board has been excusing absences anyway if the board member is considered to be on board business. 

Board member Julie Johnson, who was appointed to represent emergency medical technician basics, was absent from the last board meeting. When she was asked if she was on EMS business, Johnson relied "No" and explained that she was visiting her son who was being deployed in the military.

A motion was made to excuse Johnson's absence "in view of the events of Sept. 11" and passed unanimously.

Following the vote, board member Robert Dixon proposed "another method so a board member will not have to publicly account for themself." Dixon's proposal was apparently tabled for the next meeting.

And another precedent may have been set when the board approved waiving the EMT-Instructor requirements for an individual who apparently has only assisted with one EMT course but who has been a fire service instructor for 17 years.

Note: See Clarification: KBEMS is not waiving EMT-Instructor requirement published Feb. 10.

In other business:

• The board denied an emergency grant request of $20,000 that Bath County EMS had asked for to replace an ambulance that apparently a state inspector had said was not fit for the road. The 1986 ambulance had 191,000 miles and no heat or air in the patient compartment.
       Following the vote, some board members who had voted against the request explained that they had voted no reluctantly because the board has no specific guidelines for awarding emergency fund money. A motion was approved to develop those guidelines.
       The board never voted on a emergency grant request that had been made by Frankfort Fire & EMS to replace an ambulance damaged in a wreck.
• Dr. Bentley announced that the Paramedics in Hospital Task Force Subcommittee will meet on Feb 21 at noon in the Cabinet for Health Services Building. Dr. Bentley asked the board to appoint members to the subcommittee so that they can start their work. The subcommittee will define the paramedic scope of practice in the hospital setting.
• Granted a waiver to Careflight on the requirement to carry 5.5 cuffed endotracheal tubes. Ground ambulances are not required to carry any type of 5.5 ET tube, but air ambulances are required to carry both the 5.5 cuffed and uncuffed ET tubes. The board recognized that this size tube is rarely used for an adult patient and that current medical practice calls for uncuffed ET tubes in the pediatric patient. The board also voted to modify this regulation.
• The Medical Standards Committee now encourages ambulance services to submit their medical protocols in electronic format. The committee said they can guarantee action on their protocols by the next meeting if they are submitted in an electronic format, but protocols submitted on paper will take two meetings to approve.
• The board was told that the Governor's Office will not currently approve a deputy director position for the board.
• The board voted to endorse Kentucky House Bill 68, also known as the Primary Seat Belt law. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet gave a presentation to the board that claimed this law was predicted to save over 70 lives a year in Kentucky.

Absent from the meeting were board members James Cornelison, Mayor Dodd Dixon, and Judge Anthony Stratton. The board noted that Judge Stratton was attending the Judge Executive meeting in Lexington where he was doing a presentation on EMS. The board also noted that Cornelison may have been subpoenaed for a murder trial. 

The board's next meeting will be held March 7 at 2:00 p.m. EST in Room 113 of the Capital Annex.

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