Show Me the Money!

No doubt, you are being asked to do more with less these days. That means, as an EMS manager, you need to do much better at raising the funds your organization requires to survive. How? Number one, by thinking more creatively about the relationship your service has with the community. EMS customers, emergency response stakeholders, and public and private funding sources are all intertwined. How robust those relationships are affects how forthcoming the money is. Like you, individual patients, budget-conscious legislators and civic-minded business entities are all penny-pinching. When it comes to getting the money you need to serve them well, fundraising is all about relationship-building.

     Obviously, if yours is an organization that bills for 9-1-1 response and/or medical transport, then reimbursements are your most basic source of funding. Therefore, you need to be as effective as you can be with initial billing and follow-on collections in order to see a quick and full return. Are you keeping up with Medicare and Medicaid regulations? Are you paying attention to insurance claims that are getting kicked back? Are you billing often enough?

     Beyond that, are you thinking broadly enough about the expertise within your ranks? What other kinds of services are you--or should you be--offering, for which you can charge real money? Things like CPR and injury prevention training in your community, and other preparedness-type activities aimed at business or educational groups, can provide a revenue stream to your service if you've developed the market by building the relationships.

     As much as community leaders are paying lip service to the health, welfare and safety of their constituency, your organization is poised to raise the public's awareness of the necessary costs and value-added benefits of a healthy EMS system. When you're successful in that regard, you also improve the public's willingness to put their money where their mouths are.

     You may not realize that for special costs and one-time upgrades, there are numerous assistance programs out there. Are you current with what grants are available to your type of service? Equally important, do you have the right folks--those with know-how as well as know-who--applying for them?

Marketing and Public Relations
     Marketing and PR are your frontline strategies to increasing revenues, from grants to reimbursements, for public and private services alike. While private-sector companies are well aware of the need to market their services, non-profit and municipal services have not been as comfortable with the skill set required. The idea of "sales"--marketing's practical twin--is not always a natural fit with the provisions of emergency healthcare. However, says J.R. Henry, CEO of J.R. Henry Consulting Inc. and a paramedic for over 25 years--20 of those as executive director of Ross/West View Emergency Medical Services Authority in Pittsburgh, PA--"ambulance companies need to take a hard look at their marketing efforts. Most need to do a better job selling EMS to the public."

     Starting with the visibility issue-- "what we do for you"--and expanding that to promote the cost of readiness, marketing has to be in your mind whenever you communicate with stakeholders. Soliciting their priorities while promoting your services strengthens resources on both sides of the relationship. And it makes fundraising a natural activity, integral to your communications.

     Erik Gaull, PhD, adjunct assistant professor of Strategic Planning in the Department of EMS Medicine at The George Washington University in Washington, DC, and the former director of Operational Improvement for DC Mayor Tony Williams, cites the mayor's annual Citizens' Summits as a perfect example of relationship-building. Town hall forums such as these provide a venue for discussion about issues important to leaders and public alike. In DC, citizens can ask questions or speak out, with their opinions on the issues rated electronically.