Park Service to start billing for ambulance rides

By Jean Reid Norman

Friday, May 1, 2009 | 4:38 p.m.

A trip to the emergency room from Lake Mead will become more expensive this summer.

The National Park Service, which handles emergency calls within the 1.5 million-acre Lake Mead National Recreation Area, will begin this summer charging patients for trips in National Park Service ambulances. This move will bring the park into line with other Park Service entities, such as the Grand Canyon and Death Valley national parks.

All rangers who handle law enforcement in the recreation area are required to be certified as emergency medical technicians at least at the basic level, spokesman Andrew Munoz said. Thirty of them hold the basic certification, he said. In addition, three rangers are certified as intermediate EMTs and two are qualified paramedics.

The Park Service operates three ambulances at Lake Mead. They are stationed at Boulder Beach, Cottonwood Cove and Temple Bar, Ariz.. All rangers also carry basic EMT equipment in their vehicles, Munoz said.

Billing rates for ambulance service will range from $700 to $800 depending on the type and level of care, plus $18 per mile, Munoz said. Rates will be adjusted for inflation every Jan. 1.

Visitors will still receive basic emergency medical services such as first aid at no cost. Patients will only be billed for transportation in a Park Service ambulance.

Each year, Lake Mead emergency medical technicians and paramedics respond to about 300 medical calls that require ambulance transport in the recreation area and communities surrounding the park.

In addition to emergencies within the recreation area, rangers also are often the closest law enforcement officers to U.S. 93 in Arizona, and they respond to crashes there, Munoz said.

The Park Service also operates five fire trucks from Boulder Beach, Cottonwood Cove, Echo Bay and Temple Bar at Lake Mead, as well as Katharine Landing on Lake Mojave. Rangers fight fires within the recreation area, Munoz said.

Transported patients will be provided information about billing procedures.

“Billing for ambulance service is common practice among medical response agencies in the area,” Chief Ranger Mary Hinson said. “The funds from the billing program will help us maintain the quality medical response that our visitors expect.”