Utah ambulances temporarily allowed back in northern Arizona just minutes before serious accident

FREDONIA, Arizona (ABC4) — Residents of Fredonia can breathe easier knowing that ambulances will again respond to their town in an emergency, but hospital officials say the issue is far from over.

On July 4, just minutes before a serious accident, Kane County officials say they received confirmation that Arizona would allow Utah ambulances to serve the town,

as it had done for 40 years.

Ambulances denied entry into Arizona

Just one day earlier, in a joint meeting, residents of Fredonia were told Utah-based ground ambulances were disallowed from responding to their town. The state of Arizona cited a law that requires ambulances to operate under a Certificate of Notice (CON) in order to transport within their state.

Officials with Kane County Hospital told ABC4.com Tuesday that they have been attempting to receive the necessary CON since 2022. However, Jeff Mosdell, Board Chair for Kane County Hospital, says each time the hospital attempts to apply for the certificate, Arizona DHS asks for more documentation, some of which is protected by HIPPA and cannot be shared.

“They just won’t work with us. It’s like they don’t want to give us a certificate for something that we’ve been doing for 40 years already,” Mosdell said.

On Thursday, July 3, over 100 residents of Fredonia showed out to an emergency town hall meeting where they voiced concerns about the ruling.

The ‘loophole’

In response to ABC4.com’s request for comment last week, Arizona’s Department of Health Services said that an out-of-state ambulance can only provide transport services in the case of a major catastrophe or emergency due to an insufficient number of registered ambulances available.

The following day, Fredonia Mayor Don Johnson issued a declaration of emergency. The declaration cites the need to, “fill the void in emergency medical services recklessly created by the State of Arizona’s Department of Health Services.”

Mosdell says the only reason the transport on July 4 was allowed was because of the emergency declaration issued by Mayor Johnson.

According to Mosdell, Kane County Hospital also sent an ambulance to respond to an accident outside of Fredonia city limits which is not covered by the emergency declaration. “The only reason we were allowed to [respond] was because the Arizona DPS officer on scene declared a medical emergency.”

Attempts to solve the issue

Kane County says it’s now working on a formalized agreement to allow residents of northern Arizona can access resources based in Utah.

“Many thanks to ALL who came together on this issue, from concerned citizens, on up to the Office of the Governor of Utah,” Kane County said in a social media post.

Officials with the hospital are not so optimistic.

Potential problems with the loophole

“It is a temporary fix that sidesteps the legal issue. We still can’t bill properly, so [we] can’t recoup costs, which was the reason we were trying to get the Certificate of Need,” Mosdell told ABC4.com.

According to Mosdell, under the emergency declaration, his hospital is only allowed to bill patients 10% of the normal price for transport.

By being deemed “out of network” Mosdell says Arizona insurance companies can easily deny claims covering ambulance services, leaving patients to pay for the entire transport out-of-pocket.

“How many people living in Fredonia have four or five thousand dollars lying around to pay for an ambulance?” he added.

In light of recent updates, ABC4.com reached out again to Arizona DHS but has yet to receive a response.

The switch from volunteer to full-time staff

Until recently, Kane County’s ambulance services had always been volunteer, until the hospital said they couldn’t meet the demands.

“There would be emergency scenes where we had nobody to [respond] because the volunteers just [couldn’t] do it anymore,” Mosdell told ABC4.com.

He says the State of Arizona didn’t have a problem with the hospital responding to Arizona until Kane County Hospital began asking for payment for their services.

Kane County Hospital says it costs just over $1 million to fund a full-time EMT station. In order to fund full-time emergency medical staff, the hospital will need to be able to fund the three paid positions.

“We’re allowed to help people, we’re allowed to cover emergencies, but we’re not allowed to bill for it totally,” Mosdell said.

Joseph Degolyer and Sorina Trauntvein contributed to this reporting