Moving Forward
GEMT Funding Offsets Cost of Delivering Healthcare
San Bernardino County Fire is the second largest provider of Paramedic
ambulance transport in the County. The Ground Emergency Medical
Transportation (GEMT) Services Supplemental Reimbursement Program is
a federally funded program that provides supplemental reimbursement for
unrecovered costs for providing medical transports to Medi-Cal beneficiaries.
Currently Medi-Cal pays less than 10% of SBCoFire’s average full cost of
about $2,600 for medical transports. In February 2014, the department
submitted their application for $3.1 million in retroactive reimbursement,
based on a time period of January 2010 through June 2013. As of September
2014, SBCoFire has received $2.57 million in reimbursement. In October 2014,
the department applied for reimbursement of an additional $884,000. The
ongoing annual projected revenue under this program is about $800,000.
Crest Forest Annexation
In July 2013 SBCoFire entered into a contract with the Crest Forest Fire
Protection District and welcomed its 21 employees to the County Fire
organization. Founded in 1929, the Crest Forest FPD operated two full-time
stations, one in Crestline, the other in Twin Peaks