Riley County commissioners voted 3-0 Thursday morning to approve a letter to Via Christi in Manhattan saying they plan to terminate its contract with the hospital in regards to the administrative management of county ambulance services.
Since the early 1980s, the county has contracted the management of its ambulance services. The current agreement will end Nov. 30 and administrative duties will then transfer to the county’s control.
The county already owns and operates facilities for the ambulances, as well as the vehicles.
The change comes after Via Christi informed county officials April 20 that it was going to substantially increase its fees to Riley and Pottawatomie counties from $45,000 per year to $253,000. Hospital officials said fees had remained bottom-dollar for the last couple decades and that it was no longer feasible to keep them that low.
County officials said they plan to transfer much of the existing Via Christi staff to the county to ease the transition and not disrupt services.
