By Anne Lindberg
St. Petersburg Times
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Although a consultant says the city could bring in millions by breaking away from the county EMS system, fire officials say that’s not the plan — at least not yet.
But clearly they are looking at changes to the current system. Steve Knight, the department’s rescue division chief, says the vision is a hybrid.
St. Petersburg firefighters would do emergency transport. Those trips would continue to be paid for by those who use the service, and the county would continue to bill for that service. Paramedics Plus, the company that provides ambulance service under the Sunstar name, would continue to do nonemergency transport.
Payment could come to St. Petersburg one of two ways.
Either the county could add the estimated $2.5 million it would cost for firefighter transport to the city’s $12.5 million share of the countywide EMS tax. Or the county could pay St. Petersburg per transport as it does now with Paramedics Plus.
If the county chose to pay St. Petersburg per trip, then the city would take only about $125 to $150 of the average $521 for emergency transport.
That would add more money to the county’s coffers, Knight said, because that’s less than the $218.40 the county is paying to Paramedics Plus.
St. Petersburg has not formally proposed any changes to the EMS system yet. The study and the options first need to go in front of the city’s EMS board.
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