A. Established Authority:
1. Established: There is hereby established a Municipal ambulance service to be incorporated within the Fire Department for the purposes of providing emergency and nonemergency care and transportation of sick, injured and disabled citizens within the limits of the City of Taylorville and Taylorville Fire Protection District (TFPD) and beyond the limits according to policies.
2. Authority: The operation of the ambulance service shall be under the direction of the Fire Chief.
3. Operation And Maintenance Of Emergency Vehicle: The Fire Department, through appropriately trained personnel, is hereby authorized to operate and maintain an emergency vehicle for emergency advanced life support rescue transport services.
4. Services Provided: The Fire Department shall provide emergency advanced life support ambulance rescue services.
5. Guidelines: The operations of the TFD ambulance will be subject to the guidelines under SOG #211 "Ambulance Deployment" adopted herein by reference. (Ord. 3558, 4-16-2012)
B. Ambulance Fees:
1. For emergency advanced life support rescue transport services rendered, which consists of transport from the scene of an incident to any hospital or medical facility, the following fees shall be assessed and paid:
a. If the patient is a resident of the City of Taylorville ("City") or of the Taylorville Fire Protection District ("TFPD"), the fee shall be seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00) plus ten dollars forty one cents ($10.41) per mile from the scene of an incident to any hospital or medical facility.
b. If the patient is a nonresident of the City or TFPD, the fee shall be eight hundred twenty- five dollars ($825.00) plus ten dollars forty-one cents ($10.41) per mile from the scene of the incident to any hospital or medical facility.
2. For advanced life support non-transport services rendered, the following fees shall be assessed and paid:
a. If the patient is a resident of the City or TFPD, the fee shall be seventy-five dollars ($75.00).
b. If the patient is a nonresident of the City or TFPD, the fee shall be one hundred fifty dollars ($150.00).
3. For emergency basic life support rescue transport services rendered, which consists of transport from the scene of an incident to any hospital or medical facility, the following fees shall be assessed and paid:
a. If the patient is a resident of the City of Taylorville ("City") or of the Taylorville Fire Protection District ("TFPD"), the fee shall be five hundred dollars ($500.00) plus ten dollars forty one cents ($10.41) per mile from the scene of an incident to any hospital or medical facility.
b. If the patient is a nonresident of the City or TFPD, the fee shall be six hundred dollars ($600.00) plus ten dollars forty-one cents ($10.41) per mile from the scene of the incident to any hospital or medical facility.
4. A fee (on a current cost basis as determined by the Fire Chief) shall be assessed and paid for all disposable medical supplies that are used by the Municipal ambulance service in treatment of any patient.
5. A fee of one-hundred dollars ($100.00) per hour shall be assessed and paid for nonemergency standby service to any commercial enterprise, with the exception of special events as may be authorized from time to time by the Fire Chief in his sole discretion.
6. A fee of five hundred dollars ($500.00) shall be assessed and paid for any vehicle accident that requires extrication for a nonresident of the City or TFPD.
7. A fee of two hundred dollars ($200.00) shall be assessed and paid for each TFD apparatus or ambulance response to any call for service that turns out to be for a non-emergency service that includes, but is not limited to, the following examples: routine doctor visits, transfers between medical facilities (including nursing homes) or clinics, general "stretcher van" calls, calls to locate any handheld electronic device not critical to health or life support, calls to assist any person with normal daily living activities, or any ambulance response to any frivolous non-emergency call for service that does not involve any acute or critical or serious traumatic injury or ailment.
The TFD can refuse to respond to any further calls for ambulance service from or for any person that has been involved with one or more ambulance service in non- emergency situations as aforesaid stated.
8. The patient who received the benefit of any TFD ambulance or personnel services or for whom the ambulance response was made and his/her spouse, guardian of the person and/or estate, power of attorney agent, trustee, caretaker, heirs, administrators, executors, legal and/or personal representatives shall be jointly and severally liable for and shall pay the aforesaid applicable fees. All such fees shall be due and payable within thirty (30) days of receipt of a bill from the City.
9. Ambulance fees shall be evaluated on an annual basis and adjusted if deemed necessary by the City of Taylorville Emergency Services Committee.
C. Billing: Billing services will be provided by the City of Charleston under the current intergovernmental agreement. (Ord. 3558, 4-16-2012; amd. Ord. 3947, 3-16-2020)