When the call for help comes in, emergency medical services organizations respond. They rush their expertise and expensive, high-tech equipment to the scene, where they assess and treat the patient in need.

In some cases, the patient does not need or declines transport to the hospital. And when that happens, nothing requires insurers to foot the bill for the care EMS service providers rendered in these so-called “no-transport” calls. EmergyCare, a regional nonprofit ambulance service serving seven counties, including Erie, has estimated about 1,330 trips end this way each year, costing the agency about $200,000 a year.

That is wrong.

It is wrong in principle — people should get paid for the work they do. But the harm is compounded when you consider the importance of emergency medical care and the ongoing financial and staffing challenges those who provide it face.

The struggles of the region’s emergency response safety net, especially the shrinking ranks of volunteer fire companies, have been well-documented. Other agencies have had to shoulder the burden and do so under a reimbursement system that makes the service increasingly infeasible.

EmergyCare executive director Bill Hagerty said inadequate reimbursements limit what the agency can pay its skilled emergency medical technicians and paramedics. At $11 to $13 dollars an hour, it is on par with service industry wages, he said. The turnover rate is high and EmergyCare is now about 20 people short. As a result, Hagerty and other administrators sometimes answer calls.

Meadville Area Ambulance now covers Cambridge Springs and Cochranton, owner Eric Henry told reporter David Bruce. The agency has not only had to cover a larger territory, but has lost a precious recruiting pool — emergency medical technicians and paramedics who got their start in volunteer fire companies, he said.

Some relief is promised in January, when Medicaid reimbursements paid for EMS services are scheduled to increase by 50 percent. But even with that healthy bump, the cost of responding to Medicaid patients’ calls will still exceed the reimbursement rate, Hagerty said.

Key bills requiring insurers to pay for EMS services delivered during no-transport calls have been passed in both the state House and Senate and now sit in committees. These reimbursements won’t solve everything, but they will help.

It is time to move this legislation forward. Insurance industry advocates have expressed openness to it. As one EMS executive told the Centre Daily Times, EMS workers spare the health care systems’ expense by sorting out who needs emergency room care. That should be worth something.

EMS workers serve on the front lines of the state’s addiction crisis. They render aid at traffic accidents and medical emergencies in our homes. Don’t let their call for help go unanswered.