The Pella City Council will discuss the future of ambulance service outside of the corporate limits during policy and planning at their meeting Tuesday.

Pella Community Ambulance was absorbed by the city on July 1st, 2022, and as part of the transition, previous agreements with outside townships and neighboring communities were scheduled to continue until the end of the calendar year. According to city staff, Pella Ambulance made 265 service calls outside of Pella out of 1,966 total in fiscal year 2022 for an average cost of $652 per ride; 42 were fully insured patients, 61 were Medicaid/Medicare, and 162 were non-billable.

The City of Pella states it has sent letters to all potentially impacted parties, and have had conversations with representatives of the City of Bussey, City of Leighton,
Richland Township, and Summit Township. As of the memo sent to the Pella City Council Friday, Lake Prairie Township and Black Oak Township had not responded to the request for a meeting.

City Administrator Mike Nardini wrote in the memo that ultimately, the City of Pella should not be subsidizing the cost to provide ambulance services outside of the city limits, and as a result, is proposing a partnership in which any townships and cities receiving Pella Community Ambulance service should cover the cost of non-billable calls and the creation of an agreement which allows the City of Pella to be fully compensated for service charges for Medicaid and Medicare patients.

The City of Leighton is in the process of exploring their options for service, according to the memo, including having Mahaska County Ambulance service their city. Furthermore, Leighton advised Pella leadership they are not opposed to financially contributing to continue ambulance service with Pella; however, they wanted to review their options first.

Also, Pella has informed leadership in Bussey that Pella Ambulance will no longer be be simultaneously dispatching ambulance service due to inefficiency in that previously available service; in Fiscal Year ’22, the PCA was dispatched to Bussey 89 times, however, the Bussey Fire Department canceled the call on 45 of those calls while an ambulance was already en route. Pella Ambulance plans to instead offer Bussey a paramedic level service when needed for a $250 fee — if approved by the Pella City Council.

Additionally, a temporary advisory committee consisting of the previous Pella Community Ambulance board will be dissolved and recognized for their service at a meeting in January.

No formal action on any Pella Ambulance related items will be taken this week, and no decisions have been made in regards to agreements with outside entities, as the future of those when that could happen will be discussed at the end of the Policy and Planning session. The full Pella City Council meeting begins at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Pella Public Safety Complex and can be viewed online.