BRATTLEBORO, Vt. — Under a new state budget, Vermont EMS agencies will receive Narcan free of charge.
The state health department’s new budget for next year allocates $32,000 for the distribution of Narcan to ambulance services.
The change comes after EMS services have had to pay out of pocket for the increasingly expensive drug, reported VT Digger.
Details have yet to be worked out regarding how and when naloxone doses will be distributed, but officials said the changes will provide relief for ambulance agencies that have been facing financial struggles.
“It’s going to definitely have an impact. The number of heroin overdoses we’ve seen has increased. Quite often, we end up using Narcan on those patients,” Drew Hazelton, operations chief for Rescue Inc., said.
Medics statewide voiced their concerns to their legislators over the increasing cost and demand for services, citing the state’s stagnant Medicaid reimbursement rates causing agencies to lose hundreds of dollars for every run that involves a Medicaid patient.
Legislators responded with a solution of imposing a 3.3 percent tax on all state ambulances. The revenue, which is projected to be around $1 million a year, will be used to raise reimbursements for agencies.
The tax, however, does not alleviate the issue of Medicaid reimbursements for medications, including naloxone.
One EMS agency reported that a single dose of Narcan priced at $17 in 2014 jumped to $46.
The drug is already distributed to the public for free at 10 sites around the state, a disparity agencies questioned.
“There seemed to be a disparity in that members of the community were able to pick up the drug for free, but these (medical) organizations still had to purchase it,” Chris Bell, director of the Division of Emergency Preparedness, Response and Injury Prevention, said.
Allocations will likely be based on an agency’s past usage of naloxone, although all organizations will receive free doses.
“Everybody will be able to use it and have it. It’s a help no matter what size they are,” Jim Finger, president of Vermont Ambulance Association said.