Litchfield Ties Ambulance Transport Rates to Annual GEMT Cost Report

Litchfield City Council | October 1, 2026

Article Summary: The Litchfield City Council on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, approved an ordinance amending Ordinance No. 3645 that replaces the city’s ambulance rate schedule, adds a $250 treatment-without-transport charge, and directs that beginning Jan. 1, 2027, transport base charges be reset each year to match the city’s most recently completed Ground Emergency Medical Transportation cost report.

Litchfield Ambulance Rate Ordinance Key Points:

• Transport, mileage, intercept and lift assistance amounts remain at current levels; resident BLS transport stays at $1,600 and nonresident at $1,750.
• A new $250 “Treat No Transport” charge applies only where a patient care record documents an advanced life support intervention or administration of glucose.
• Beginning Jan. 1, 2027, transport base charges “shall equal the City-specific cost per transport in the City’s most recently completed GEMT cost report.”
• The ordinance accompanies the city’s transition of ambulance billing from EMS-MC to Paramedic Billing Services.

LITCHFIELD — The Litchfield City Council on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, voted 8-0 to adopt an ordinance rewriting the city’s ambulance charge schedule and, for the first time, binding future transport charges to the city’s own documented cost of providing an ambulance transport.

Alderperson Marilyn Sisson, who carries the council’s Fire Department portfolio, made the motion; Alderperson Dwayne Gerl seconded.

What Changes and What Does Not

The ordinance amends Section 2 of Ordinance No. 3645, adopted March 2, 2023, by replacing its schedule of city ambulance rates, effective for services furnished on or after Oct. 1, 2026. Under the replacement schedule set out in the ordinance:

• BLS Transport — $1,600 resident / $1,750 nonresident
• ALS 1 Transport — $1,650 / $1,800
• ALS 2 Transport — $1,800 / $2,000
• BLS Non-Emergency Transport — $1,550 / $1,700
• ALS Non-Emergency Transport — $1,600 / $1,750
• DOA Transport, when lawfully provided — $1,600 / $1,750
• Out of Town BLS Transfer — $1,800 / $1,850
• Out of Town ALS Transfer — $1,850 / $1,900
• Paramedic Intercept — $100 / $100
• Loaded Mileage, per mile — $17 / $17
• Response/Patient Lift Assistance — $75 / $75
• Treat No Transport, ALS intervention or glucose administered — $250 / $250

The Fire Department’s memo to the council states that “the listed transport, mileage, intercept, and lift assistance amounts remain at their current levels,” and that the amendment “adds a deceased person transport category and establishes a $250 treatment without transport charge only when an ALS intervention or administration of glucose is documented.” The memo also notes that “the 2023 wait time and first aid/refusal charges are not included in the replacement schedule.”

Fire Chief Adam Pennock told the council, as the minutes record it, “that this ordinance is not changing the rates, but changes companies.”

The Billing Transition

The ordinance’s recitals state that the original 2023 schedule was adopted “in coordination with the billing services provided by EMS_MC” and that the city “is transitioning ambulance billing services from EMS-MC to Paramedic Billing Services and desires to establish a clear schedule of charges for its billing agent.”

A Paramedic Billing Services “Billing Rates” form in the council packet carries the same twelve charge lines at the same amounts, lists the rate change effective date as 10/01/2026, and marks that automatic increases will occur “on the calendar date of 01/01/2027” by the city’s GEMT rates.

Explaining the mechanism on the floor, Pennock said he must complete a GEMT report submitted to the state each Oct. 1 covering the fire department’s and the ambulance service’s expenses. The report, he said, “breaks it down and it tells us how much per call that we spend on providing ambulance transport only. So we’re going to adjust rates based on that. So we have a fair number to pass on to the citizens.” He added that if the figure does not rise, the rates do not rise.

Documentation Requirements

The ordinance adds three provisions after the schedule. It defines “resident” as “a person whose principal residence is within the Litchfield Area Ambulance Special Service Area on the date of service,” and requires the city or its billing agent to “correct a classification when reliable documentation establishes a different residence.”

It also sets an evidentiary floor for the new treatment-without-transport charge: “A Treat No Transport charge requires a patient care record documenting an advanced life support intervention or administration of glucose without transport. A response alone, refusal without the specified care, or lift assistance alone does not support this charge.”

Section 5 requires that before any annual adjustment takes effect, “the Fire Chief shall provide the City Clerk and the authorized billing agent with the completed GEMT cost report and a written schedule of the resulting charges,” and directs the city clerk to maintain that schedule with the ordinance “and make it available for public inspection.”

Charges for services furnished before Oct. 1, 2026, remain governed by the rates then in effect, and Ordinance No. 3645 otherwise remains in full force.

The department’s memo cautions that while “the ordinance itself does not authorize a new expenditure,” the added and revised service categories “may affect collections, but the amount cannot be projected from the information available.”