North Las Vegas council lets firefighters take more patients to hospitals

The North Las Vegas Fire Department can increase the number of emergency patients it transports to hospitals after all.

The City Council on Wednesday voted 4-1 to approve an "administrative policy" that allows the department to take over the transport of more emergency patients to hospitals instead of turning them over to private ambulance services. Fire officials estimated the move would bring in about $600,000 every six months to the cash-strapped city. The department will bill insurance companies for the service.

That extra revenue was included in a budget plan the council approved in August. But in September, a divided council directed the department to stop the stepped-up transport it had just begun. At the time, council members Anita Wood and Robert Eliason said they didn't think that the original proposal was presented in a transparent enough manner and that there was still a lot of uncertainty about how much money it would bring in. Councilwoman Pamela Goynes-Brown also voted against the proposal.

But on Wednesday, Wood and Goynes-Brown supported the policy. Wood said she wants the Fire Department to report back to the council regularly on how the program is working and how much money it's raising.

Eliason was the only council member to again vote against the policy, saying he is concerned it will lead to more overtime costs.

Under the policy, starting Nov. 1 the department will assume more emergency transport services for 911 "delta level" patients -- the most seriously sick or injured -- and traffic accident patients in the city.

MedicWest worked with fire officials to develop the proposal. Michael Gorman, MedicWest's general manager, told the council the company was committed to helping the city despite the fact that handing over some of its transports would hurt its bottom line.

North Las Vegas has gone through several rounds of budget cuts and layoffs since late 2008 and has eliminated or frozen about 1,000 positions.

Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.