Rehoboth Officials Searching for Ambulance Service

Town officials are looking to provide ambulance service to residents, but there are no promises that Rehoboth Ambulance will continue to provide that service.

Board of Selectmen Chair Skip Vadnais, Selectman Rob Johnson, and Sue Pimental, the town’s Chief Financial Officer, are handling the situation.

Vadnais explained an executive session of the BOS would need to be scheduled first in order to discuss and review a proposed contract.

“We haven’t reached that point yet,” Vadnais said Tuesday. “The Rehoboth Ambulance is still working things out so it’s a work in progress.”

Voters at the June 4 town meeting appropriated $200,000 for ambulance services. Vadnais noted those funds were not designated for Rehoboth Ambulance.

“What we asked (for) was a sum of money to supplement for providing ambulance services to the Town of Rehoboth,” Vadnais continued. “The Rehoboth Ambulance was never mentioned. We can use that money for any ambulance service. They know it’s not their money. We don’t pay for Rehoboth Ambulance. We have no control over them. They’re no more a part of the town than Rehoboth Pizza is.”

“We had a meeting with (the Town) in June about the contract,” said Deputy Director of Operations Reuben Fischman. “We are waiting on the Town to send us an updated draft of a contract based on feedback they had and we had. At the end of the day, whether the Rehoboth Ambulance Committee continues is going to be up to whether or not the Town wants to continue working with us.”

Rehoboth Ambulance is a private non-profit corporation under contract to the town.

Until 2023, the service operated on a part-time paid on call model. When the contract was renewed, the town required that the primary crew be in the building 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

The service operated at a loss of $212,000 in 2023. This year, that number could rise as high as $351,000.

Vadnais said the town was working with Rehoboth Ambulance at the July 1 meeting.

There were over 1200 calls for service in 2023. The ambulance committee reported $680,000 in revenue and $866,000 in expenses. They only bill for the calls where they transport patients to the hospital.

Over 50 percent of the patients that are transported are on Medicare or Mass Health, which reduces the revenues.