TO: Directors & Chiefs
Kentucky Licensed Ambulance Services

FROM: Robert P. Calhoun, M.P.H., Branch Manager

DATE: September 12, 2000

SUBJECT: Status of EMS Matching Grant (Senate Bill 66) Program

As most of you know, House Bill 405, enacted by the 2000 Kentucky General Assembly, will make sweeping changes in the Kentucky Emergency Medical Services Program. The law establishes a new agency, the Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical Services, which will assume responsibility for all aspects of Kentucky’s EMS program. Governor Patton should appoint the new Kentucky Board of EMS this month. Once the Board is appointed, they will establish their offices, hire their own staff, and prepare to begin assuming responsibility for the Kentucky EMS Program as early as January 1, 2001.

House Bill 405 also made changes in the EMS Matching Grant (Senate Bill 66) Program. The most significant change is the combining of the two formerly separate (one for ambulances & EMS equipment; another for personnel & training) grant programs into a single grant. Under the new law, there is maximum of $25,500 that can be award to any county or eligible entities (cities, ambulance taxing districts, etc.) within a county. As before, state funds cannot exceed 50% of the actual cost of any ambulance or other item of equipment purchased.

Because of the statutory changes and the transfer of the EMS program to the new Kentucky Board of EMS, the Cabinet for Health Services’ EMS Program is not able to send out Senate Bill 66 grant applications and related material at this time. Once it is in place, the new Board must establish and adopt grant guidelines, application materials, and administrative regulations for the EMS matching grant program based on the new law.

For Senate Bill 66 grants made in previous years, you should continue to send your required documentation (i.e.: copies of invoices, progress reports, etc.) and any refunds to the EMS Branch as before. Likewise, any request to make changes in last year’s approved Senate Bill 66 grant awards must be sent to this office until the program is transferred to the new Board.

The Cabinet for Health Services will continue to carry out the many elements of the Kentucky EMS Program including ambulance licensure, certification of EMS personnel, etc. until the new Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical Services is up an running and prepared to assume responsibility for the various aspects of the program early next year. We are committed to making this transfer as smooth and seamless as possible. In the meantime, should you have any questions, you may call me at (502)564-8963. 

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