The Oconee County Board of Commissioners, seeking input on the provision of emergency medical services (EMS) in the county, will hold a called Town Hall Meeting at 6 p.m. on March 26 at the Oconee County Administrative Building, 7635 Macon Highway, north of Watkinsville.
The meeting will focus on the current arrangement for provision of EMS in the county and on options for the future, according to the announcement on the county web site.
Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell said last week the Commission is seeking community engagement on EMS in the state and the county, on the challenges Oconee County is facing, on the goals for EMS in the county, and on what should be done next.
Since 2009, National Emergency Medical Services, or National EMS, a private company, has provided ambulance services for Oconee County.
When National EMS gave its annual report to the Board at its March 25, 2025, agenda setting meeting, no one from the public nor any of the commissioners voiced any concerns about the quality of the service.
Commissioner Chuck Horton, speaking before the Oconee County Democratic Party on another topic on March 5, however, said that the county is getting complaints with the existing service.
“We’ve got to do something,” he said.
March 2025 Report
National EMS provides emergency medical services in the county through a Memorandum Understanding approved by the Board of Commissioners.
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| Bandzul 3/25/2025 |
John Bandzul, vice president of operations at National EMS, reviewed the details of that agreement at the Commission’s March 25, 2025, meeting.
Oconee County is guaranteed two paramedic-level ambulances 24 hours a day, seven days a week, he said.
Each ambulance also has an advanced level emergency medical technician (EMT) on board, according to Bandzul.
National EMS bills the recipient of the ambulance service $4,427 for what is labeled an ALS-2 Emergency, and $3,206 for an ALS-1 Emergency or for a BLS Emergency.
ALS stands for Advanced Life Support, with level 2 requiring additional assistance with a ventilator or increased medication, Bandzul said. BLS stands for Basic Life Support.
National EMS also charges $47.82 per mile.
If National EMS answers a call but no serviced is provided, National EMS charges the party $253, according to Bandzul.
Oconee County subsidizes the service by paying National EMS $16,666.66 per month, or $200,000 a year, Bandzul said.
“Right now, it costs about $150 per unit hour to have an ambulance standby,” Bandzul said.
“That comes out to $7,200 a day,” he said, for the county’s two ambulances. “And that's just for the readiness,” he added.
Background And Service In 2024
Bandzul said National EMS was founded in 1976 in Rockdale County and now provides ambulance 911 services for Rockdale, Morgan, Athens-Clarke, and Oconee counties.
He said National EMS became a part of Priority Ambulance, with corporate offices in Knoxville, Tenn., in 2018.
The Priority Ambulance web site lists 19 companies, including National EMS, in the Priority Ambulance “family.”
In 2024, Oconee County received 4,111 calls for service, Bandzul said, and provided 2,812 transports. The remainder, he labeled “dry runs.”
Bandzul said “our average response time for Priority 1s in 2024 came down significantly over past years.”
Bandzul said Priority 1 calls are true emergencies, such as chest pain, trouble breathing, traumatic incidents, and strokes.
Priority 2 calls are falls, abdominal pain, vomiting, and most automobile accidents.
Average response time in 2024 was 9 minutes and six seconds for Priority 1 and Priority 2 calls, he said.
Comments On Service
At the March 25 meeting, each of the five commissioners asked questions of Bandzul, but none of them voiced any complaint.
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| Horton 3/5/2025 |
Almost all of the questions dealt with billing, with Commissioner Horton focused on differences between billing for Athens-Clarke County residents and for Oconee County residents.
“The bill that goes out is the same,” Bandzul said. “However, what insurance companies or what Medicare, Medicaid may pay us is completely different.”
Commission Chair John Daniell asked Bandzul if National EMS was meeting the “financial metrics” from Priority Ambulance. Bandzul said it was.
At the March 5 meeting of the Oconee Country Democratic Party, a member of the audience asked Horton about the purpose of the Town Hall Meeting called for March 26.
“I'm assuming that has something to do with the vendor that provides ambulance services for the county,” the questioner said.
“We've got complaints, and they're coming in a lot faster,” Horton said. The county is trying to figure out what to do in responses to those complaints, Horton said.
“Providers like Oconee County, because so many people have insurance,” Horton said.
“The company that we use now bought the service from a family,” he said. “We lost that. No more mom and pop running. So you’ve got a company. And we’ve got to do something.”
One option, he said, is for the county to create and run its own ambulance service, as is done at present in Hart County.
Video
The video below of the March 25, 2025, meeting of the Oconee County Board of Commissioners is on the county YouTube channel.
The discussion of the National EMS report for 2024 begins at 16:43 in the video.
I attended the meeting and recorded my own video, as a backup.
The still images above are frames for the video I recorded.
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