SMH meets with city, county officials to discuss ambulance services

Representatives from the city of Breckenridge and Stephens County met with the Stephens Memorial Hospital board to discuss paying for the hospital’s emergency medical services at the hospital board’s regular meeting on Thursday, July 18.

Employees with Sacred Cross, the hospital’s current EMS, were also at the meeting to breakdown and explain the EMS’s costs. The hospital board also discussed their monthly finances at the meeting and laid the foundation for a task force to find out what the hospital’s biggest needs are.

In recent months, City Manager Andy McCuistion and County Judge Michael Roach have expressed a desire to no longer assist in paying for the hospital’s EMS. Currently, the county, city and hospital all pay three equal shares to the EMS. If the county and the city were to pull out of paying, the entire cost would shift onto the hospital. However, the hospital is not legally required to provide an EMS, as is the case for other local entities.

To read the full story, please see the July 31 edition of the Breckenridge American.