In an effort to align more evenly with what other ambulance districts in the area charge per loaded mile for an ambulance run, the MOAD Board at the December meeting approved an increase to the mileage rate. Administrator Brian Opoka said in January 2017 they talked about MOAD’s mileage rate being “way below area services” at $12 with most services around charging $17.50 per loaded mile. At that time they agreed to increase it to the current $14 per mile rate and about gradually increasing it in small increments to reach $17.50. The board didn’t want to make a drastic change by jumping up from $12 to $17.50. Opoka said he would like to see it increased again effective January 2019.

Board Secretary/Treasurer Wilma Stephen suggested raising the mileage rate of $16 a mile. Board member Laura Stratman said that would add about $80 to the bill for an ambulance trip to Jefferson City. She said if someone already was calling an ambulance, $80 is not going to make much of a difference.  Opoka said the charge is for loaded miles only as MOAD does not get paid to drive back to the base. Stephen made the motion to increase the mileage rate from $14 to $16 per loaded mile, it received a second and the board approved it.

In other business at the December MOAD Board meeting:

—Opoka said they are waiting to hear back from a representative of Rayfield Communications about the possibility of and the equipment needed to dispatch Osage County ambulance responses through Osage County Dispatch. Currently all ambulance calls are dispatched from Maries County Dispatch, which causes a slight delay for Osage County calls. On Nov. 4, MOAD sent a truck to downtown Linn and made a call to Maries County Dispatch over the repeater to test the system and see what equipment will be needed to make the switch. If MOAD’s truck was able to contact Maries County Dispatch from Linn, then what would be needed is a base radio with a 20 foot antenna at Osage Dispatch. However, at this time Opoka does not know what equipment will be needed as he still is waiting to hear back from Rayfield Communications. Laura Stratman asked who would be responsible for paying for the equipment and Opoka said that remains to be determined. But, technically, he thinks it should be at Osage County’s cost but it will “help out our community,” he said. They need to find out what equipment is needed, look at the costs and continue from there. Stratman thanked Opoka for continuing to work on this.

—Opoka reported the ambulance inflation factor payout for Medicare and Medicaid for the services MOAD provides will increase by 2.3 percent effective Jan. 1, 2019. The board said this is good. 

Also, the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs has renewed MOAD’s license. The district needs this because the trucks carry narcotics. 

Also updated was the Quaker associate agreement. There were no issues with it and the agreement was renewed.

—Graves & Associates, the company that performs the district’s annual audit sent an audit engagement letter for the audit year ending Dec. 31, 2018. The price increased from $5,300 to $5,825, a $525 increase. Board President Don Lanning said its like everything else going up in price every year. Board member Eileen Smith said the company does a good job for the district. Lanning said this company has done the audit for 15 to 20 years. Victor Stratman asked about the audit being part of the professional fees line item and was told yes. Also in that line item is the $750 retainer for the EMS lawyer services. Victor Stratman asked what are other options for them with a $500 price increase. Stephen said they could put it out for bids and state they can reject any or all bids. But, there is a cost to advertising the bids in the newspaper. Laura Stratman asked if any other companies have contacted MOAD about doing the audit and she was told no. Stephen, who has been a MOAD board member for many years, said initially the board had to solicit Graves & Associates to do the audit because nobody bid on it when they advertised it. She said Dick Wieberg knew somebody who worked at Graves & Associates and that’s where they started “because nobody wanted to do an ambulance audit.”  Opoka said ambulance services are unique. Victor Stratman made a motion to accept the new price and next year look at the prices of other companies willing to do ambulance district audits. The motion received a second and the board approved it.

—In the financial report, November income was reported at $44,581.39, expenses at $40,779.97 for a net income of $3,801.42. Income sources for November were $492.79 Maries County taxes, $3,528.62 Osage County taxes, $23,717.05 in service fees, $300 other, $16,466.50 in sales tax, and $76.43 interest income.