County seeks EMS rate hike

SANDPOINT — Bonner County is seeking to raise EMS fees for the first time since the system was formed a decade ago.

“It has not been adjusted since 2005,” Bonner EMS Chief Bob Bussey said of the department's base-billing fee schedule.

The cost of providing emergency medical services, meanwhile, has risen substantially and especially in the areas of fuel and drugs, Bussey said.

Bonner County commissioners are conducting a public hearing on Thursday to take up the proposed fee increases. It starts at 10 a.m. at the Bonner County Administration Building.

The fee hikes are subject to a hearing because they exceed 5 percent.

Bonner County EMS rates are patterned after Medicaid and Medicare rates.

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