Medicaid-funded ambulance rides in Dublin more than doubled over five years, with the sharpest spike hitting in 2024 as Washington Township Fire Department logged its busiest year on record.
Providers in ZIP code 43016 billed $129,057 for ambulance and transport services through Medicaid in 2024, up 66.5% from $77,531 in 2023, according to an analysis by Northwest Franklin News of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. Since 2020, when the total was $55,870, spending in the category has climbed 131%.
The federal data, which covers fee-for-service, managed care and CHIP claims, shows the 2024 increase far outpaced the 7.3% rise across all Dublin Medicaid categories during the same period. HHS notes the 2024 figures are preliminary and subject to revision as Ohio finalizes its submissions.
What's driving the numbers
Three billing codes accounted for nearly all of Dublin's 2024 ambulance claims: Advanced Life Support emergency runs (code A0427) totaled $72,466 across 10 claims; Basic Life Support emergency runs (A0429) totaled $43,651 across 10 claims; and ground mileage charges added $12,939 across 11 claims.
Washington Township Fire Department, which provides EMS coverage for Dublin, responded to 7,511 total calls in 2024, its highest annual figure in publicly reported data. Of those, 4,916 were EMS calls, according to the department's data page. That represents a 5.5% jump in total calls from 7,119 in 2023.
At a July 2024 Board of Trustees meeting, Assistant Fire Chief John Donahue reported the department was running more than 200 additional calls compared to the same period the prior year, with roughly 1,900 patient transports logged through June. Donahue also noted that EMS billing receipts were nearly $250,000 below the prior year's pace because of a billing disruption tied to the Change Healthcare cyberattack, which halted claims processing earlier that year. A new billing partner, Medicount, was retroactively submitting claims to recover the gap.
That billing backlog could partly explain the 2024 Medicaid spike: delayed claims from early 2024 may have been processed later in the year, concentrating payments into a shorter window.
Why each run costs more
Washington Township raised its ambulance service charges effective May 1, 2023, citing an 8.7% CMS Ambulance Inflation Factor. The updated rates set ALS1-Emergency transport at $948.24 and BLS-Emergency at $802.18 per run, with loaded mileage at $16.99 per mile. Higher per-run charges mean each Medicaid-covered transport generates a larger claim.
Despite the percentage jump, ambulance spending remains a small slice of Dublin's overall Medicaid picture. The category ranked 13th out of 18 service groups in 2024, accounting for 0.1% of the city's total Medicaid payments. Pathology and laboratory procedures ($78.9 million) and alcohol and drug abuse treatment ($55.9 million) dominated.
The department did not provide comment on what the Medicaid spending increase reflects operationally.
The 2024 data remain preliminary. Final figures could shift as Ohio completes its T-MSIS submissions to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
