STARKVILLE — Stephen Pannell has worked for OCH Regional Medical Center as a paramedic for more than 15 years. But Pannell and his coworkers were called into a meeting at the hospital on May 25, where they were abruptly told the hospital’s EMS/Ambulance service would be moving to a private company.
“Up until about a week ago, I intended to retire from OCH,” Pannell told Oktibbeha County supervisors during their board meeting on Monday. “We had a medical service that was well managed and extremely dedicated to servicing our patients’ needs. … We then had to begin dealing with the ramifications of that news. It meant we were all out of a job by July 1.”
Pannell and other OCH EMTs voiced their fears about the change to county supervisors, including possible job loss, loss of sick days and tenure loss.
OCH Regional Medical Center announced it will be partnering with Global Medical Response to manage and contract the daily operations of OCH’s EMS/Ambulance services in a press release on May 26. The service will be routed through GMR’s company, MedStat, and will start on July 1.
OCH CEO James Jackson notified supervisors of the change, which was approved by a hospital trustees vote, by letter on May 25. The county owns the hospital and appoints the trustees.
Jackson, who also attended Monday’s supervisors’ meeting, said all 21 employees affected — 11 full-time and 10 part-time — are being offered the chance to transition to MedStat, possibly with higher pay and benefits than before.
“Our goal is not to see the service harmed in any way, but to utilize and tap into these guys to actually improve the service,” Jackson said.
“It was our expectation that every existing OCH employee would be given the opportunity to be employed by the new partner. … It can be coined ‘getting fired.’ It’s a transition to a partner. And it’s the help that we need at this time.”
In an effort to further alleviate concerns of EMTs present at Monday’s meeting, MedStat Director of Operations Dave Eldridge said any transfers from the OCH ambulance service will maintain their tenure.
But Jackson said this transition is primarily a business decision and an attempt to lower costs of operations and the EMS/Ambulance services’ subsidies.
“There was a lot of money that was injected into the health care system during COVID, and that money was used to compensate employees in a highly competitive market,” Jackson said. “Unfortunately, those funds dried up in June of last year. And the hospital, as you have seen in my letter, has had to deal with the after effects.”
Jackson said the ambulance service takes roughly $1.4 million to operate and loses about $400,000 a year. He said after the subsidies the hospital receives from the county and Mississippi State University, the service still operates $100,000 to $140,000 in the red annually.
In the press release, the hospital projected that the new partnership with MedStat would eliminate $100,000 from their current subsidy of operation.
Jackson also said this change is a response to lowering demand for ambulance trips over the past five years. He said there were 4,322 ambulance trips reported in 2018, but only about 2,700 in 2022. He also noted that the city of Starkville started using Pafford Ambulance Services in 2019, which contributed to the drop-off.
District 5 Supervisor Joe Williams asked Jackson if there would be any gaps in coverage during the transition, to which Jackson answered in the negative. Williams also asked about oversight of MedStat as the new ambulance providers for the county hospital.
“The oversight of our service wouldn’t change,” Jackson said. “The hospital is ultimately the accountable party for the services. We’re not giving that duty and that responsibility away.”
But like the EMTs present, some of the supervisors said they were “blindsided” by the change, including District 4 Supervisor Bricklee Miller and District 1 Supervisor John Montgomery.
Miller told The Dispatch that she heard about the switch over a text message. She said the hospital has an obligation to let both taxpayers and the supervisors know when large changes like this happen, since the county funds part of the EMS/Ambulance service at OCH.
County Attorney Rob Roberson reminded the supervisors that decision-making authority was given to the OCH board of trustees about 40 years ago, meaning the hospital board has the right to make decisions without consulting the supervisors.
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