Council ordinance would charge assisted living facilities for non-emergency medical calls

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — Columbus Council is considering an ordinance that would charge skilled nursing facilities for non-emergency calls. 

Columbus Fire and EMS Chief Sal Scarpa said some facilities are abusing emergency calls.

The ordinance, that will be voted on in two weeks, would charge the facilities $350 per non-emergency call. Currently, those calls are free. Scarpa says there up to 200 such calls a year. 

This will not impact emergency calls. 

“They will call us and ask us to move a patient or someone in their care from a bed to a wheelchair, from a car to a wheelchair, from a bathroom to their bed that is not in the not in the mission for the Columbus Fire and EMS Department, said Sal Scarpa, Chief of Columbus Fire and EMS.

She added, “we encourage them since they are receiving funds to take care of those patients, to take care of that responsibility themselves.”