Utah bill to ban ‘surprise billing’ for ground ambulances draws support, concern

When someone dials 911 in the small, western Utah community of Wendover, the first responders who answer the call for help know they’re at least 120 miles from the nearest hospital. There’s no backup in the roughly 900-square-mile area that Wendover Ambulance covers on the border of Utah and Nevada. So the EMTs who respond in crisis have to rely “on what they know and their partner and what they can do” as they work to stabilize patients and get them to safety, said Lauara Lisk, an advanced EMT and the company’s owner.