DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ga. — The Douglas County Commission voted to add a $100 fee to any patient assessed for treatment by emergency medical services, but that doesn’t go to a hospital by ambulance.
According to county documents, the fee will be applied for “assessed and treated, non-transport patients” and will not impact the county budget.
County documents state that the $100 fee is not a revenue-generating initiative but is instead to promote fiscal sustainability.
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It will only apply to patients who are assessed and treated but decline transportation to a hospital by the Douglas County Fire-EMS Department.
Funds from the fee payments are expected to be used to offset consumable EMS supplies and pharmaceuticals used during these service calls, according to the county.
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In a letter to the county about the fee, Fire Chief Miles Allen said he is also interested in exploring how the fee model “can serve as a foundation for broader cost-recovery initiatives involving hazmat responses, vehicle collisions and residential fires.”
Allen’s letter said the department “currently faces a significant volume of medical calls,” roughly 33% of their yearly calls, where patients receive treatment but refuse to go to a hospital.
He said there were about 5,600 of these incidents in 2025.
Allen told commissioners in his letter that while care delivery will never be delayed or denied based on ability to pay, high-cost treatments need a funding mechanism to continue.
Allen’s letter estimated the department estimates roughly $336,000 in annual cost recovery would be needed for the expenses currently absorbed by the department’s operating budget, based on “a conservative 60% collection rate.”
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