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96 South Main Street, PO Box 77, Nephi, Utah 84648 - Voice: 435 623-0525 - FAX: 435 623-4735 On our front page this week December 15, 2021 |
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By Myrna Trauntvein A new assistance program for the emergency medical services (EMS) in the county may soon be approved. The GrabMD model utilizes highly trained EMS professionals under the supervision of a physician to assist local residents when a decision on whether to transport a patient needs to be made. “This agreement has taken a really long time,” said Ryan Peters, county attorney. “This is the draft agreement.” Greg Baird, MD, MPH, Chief Physician Executive for GrabMD, and Edward Fechser, GrabMD, met with county commissioners to discuss adoption of the medical program that will assist the county emergency medical services (EMS) department. “I will have the final agreement in two weeks,” said Peters. “The liability tort caps at $3 million in Utah.” Some states put “caps” on damages awarded by juries in tort, or personal injuries cases. A “cap” is a law that puts an arbitrary ceiling on the amount of damages a judge or jury can award in a case, regardless of the facts or evidence presented in a specific case. “The county may still get sued,” said Peters. “I just want the agreement to make it so that we can recoup for us.” Each doctor, he said, carries $1 million liability. He had had discussions with the county insurance provider and had discussed the county’s insurance obligation for GrabMD in case of a lawsuit. That is a reality in today’s world that a lawsuit is a possibility with medical treatment providers. “I would be comfortable, personally, with $1 million,” said Richard Hansen, county commission chairman. Fechser said that the physicians group insurance would have the liability in such a case. “We could make it work,” he said. Baird said that the $1 million liability would be per-occurrence and the $3 million would be in aggregate. Most liability insurance policies have a $1 million per-occurrence limit as well as an aggregate limit. A specialized type of professional liability insurance, medical malpractice insurance, provides coverage to physicians and other medical professionals for liability. A majority of American doctors face at least one medical malpractice lawsuit in the course of their career. “This service would really have helped us during COVID,” said Mika Sperry, county EMS director. The community paramedicine (CP) concept is becoming widely used in rural communities to assist in maintaining and improving health across economic and geographic disparities. The model utilizes highly trained emergency medical service (EMS) professionals under the supervision of a physician to provide a variety of needed health services. One of those, said Sperry, was the transport of patients to the hospital for treatment that did not need to be transported. The doctor would evaluate those patients. “We would transport the critical patients,” said Sperry. CP can benefit rural communities and EMS agencies by: Reducing 9-1-1 requests for non-urgent, non-transport services that are not reimbursable and by reducing paramedic service utilization and hospital attendance and improving health outcomes. One other change to the draft agreement that he would like to make, said Peters, was that rather than there being an auto-renewal unless either party gave a 30-notice, he would prefer that time being 60 days. “The agreement would start as soon as it is authorized,” said Peters. All three commissioners agreed that they would consider that authorization in the next commission meeting. “We are so excited to get going,” said Baird.
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