Latest Headlines
- ECUA Considering Water, Sewer And Sanitation Rate Increases
- Highway 4, Highway 168 Bridges Across North Escambia Remain Closed. Here’s An Update.
- Two-Time Super Bowl Champ Inspires Local Youth Athletes (With Photo Gallery)
- Century Woman Charged With Meth Possession After Traffic Stop
- For Escambia, Alabama, Deputy Charge With Federal Civil Rights Violation
- FWC Law Enforcement Report: Snapper Size, Gopher Tortoises
- These Are This Week’s Road Construction Trouble Spots
- Drone Show Wows Sellout Crowd in 5-1 Wahoos Loss
- Costco Nine Mile Road Plans Set For Development Review Meeting
- Applications Still Open For Pine Beetle Assistance And Prevention Program
Free Ride: Escambia EMS To Write Off $2.1 Million In Ambulance Bills
March 28, 2013
Next week, the Escambia County Commission will consider writing-off over $2.1 million in bad debts owed to the Emergency Medical Service Fund.
The write-off includes 4,435 accounts receivable totaling $2,142,106.92 from the first quarter of fiscal year 2012-2013 that have been through all phases of the billing and collection cycle — including all primary and secondary insurance filings, private pay processing, pre-collection letter(s), and/or referral to a secondary collection agency. All accounts have been with the secondary collection agency for at least 120 days.
“All avenues for collection have been exhausted and we are confident these accounts are truly uncollectible, and any further action would be unproductive,” according to county documents.
The county’s resolution to write-off the debts does not forgive the debt.
Comments
13 Responses to “Free Ride: Escambia EMS To Write Off $2.1 Million In Ambulance Bills”
As an EMS professional, I can assure you that just because you go by ambulance you will NOT always go straight to a room. In fact, if you have no immediate LIFE THREAT nurses and even doctors love to sit you in the triage room along with everyone else waiting in line. Abusers of the system, or our “very satisfied customers” should remember this!
The day is coming soon that just because you call for an ambulance doesn’t mean you will leave in one. Processes are already underway for community paramedics with a “doc in a box” tele-medicine system who will evaluate you at home for your actual need for transportation or not.
ECEMS is the only ambulance service in Esc. Co. I have BCBS insurance and ECEMS has nothing with them, which results in ECEMS being an Out of Network provider!!! One of the largest insurance group in this area and this is out of network? The one time we used them was for a real emergency and it took us a long time to pay it off, but we paid it. The service was needed and the service was good, I’m thankful my husband was ok. In the scheme of things I was happy to pay the $800 to ensure he made it to the hospital and his complications were safely attended to along the way. It just seems strange that they are the only service yet out of network with BCBS!
I know a couple of people that use this service for routine and non-necessary visits to ER just so that they will not have to wait but get taken right into a room.
REGARDING:
“They should let a Dr decide whether their ride was needed or not and if they decide it wasn’t needed, hold them responsible for the bill or lock them up till somebody in the family pays it This would stop a lot of this”
It would stop much of it but you would have to amend the Florida Constitution first due to Article One, Section Eleven regarding imprisonment for debt being prohibited. (Federal law also prohibits it too, but that is complicated.)
reference:
CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA
ARTICLE I
“SECTION 11. Imprisonment for debt.—No person shall be imprisoned for debt, except in cases of fraud.”
David contemplating debtors’ prisons
@dufus,
Your solution would increase jail costs also with no reimbursement for either cost.
Never any easy answers that everyone will agree too.
This is why insurance and ambulance rides ARE so expensive. They should let a Dr decide whether their ride was needed or not and if they decide it wasn’t needed, hold them responsible for the bill or lock them up till somebody in the family pays it This would stop a lot of this random…I NEED AN AMBULANCE!!!! I know a lot of people that could be transported by car if they really need to go. There are so many hypochondriacs in this world today, if they cough they need to run to the emergfency room….get a life and leave the hospitals to the sick
Unlike the Sheriff’s Office/PPD/Fire Dept, up until recent years EMS was self sufficient…. meaning that it operated withOUT taxpayer money. Only in recent years with medical reimbrusment cuts has ECEMS had to ask the county commission for a subsidy to continue to operate. The majority of their operational money though still comes from insurance company payouts and patients.
If you read through your medical insurance contract you will find a section that details how much/if any your insurance company will cover of an ambulance ride…. which is NOT cheap!
Unfortunately there are too many with the “Gold Card” (aka:Medicaid) who feel the need to use EMS as a free taxi ride to the mall. No lie! And due to medical liability EMS cannot refuse transport to anyone with a medical complaint.
Tom, you obviously are not aware of what your tax dollars cover. The taxes you pay do not cover EMS services. EMS does not receive the taxes that are meant for public safety as a lump sum. EMS actually collects from patients that are transported (and I’m sure they mess up in charging people that should not be charged) and use that to fund day to day operations. The taxes that you pay are used for equipment purchases and other expenses that are not covered by collected fees.
As always there are people complaining that they are not receiving the services that they “claim” they pay for. It is the same with fire and the sheriff’s department. You complain until you need them!!! Than they are the best thing since sliced bread.
Stop whining, pay your taxes and be thankful that there are people out there that are willing to come help you in your biggest time of need.
Have a safe day!!!
@Tom, Actually, though it is operated by the county, it is not already paid for. It operates off what it collects. In order to keep from having to use tax payer money, it has to collect from those who use the service.
EMS is a county operation, not unlike the sheriff or fire departments. We, as tax payers, already pay for this service. The sheriff doesn’t bill you to answer a complaint call for you………..Seems we are having to pay twice………Money hungry county administration.
I have a friend whose daughter is addicted to painkillers and periodically requires something called a TRIGGER SHOT (?). In order to recieve the trigger shot she must be transported by ambulance to a hospital. Why not make these trigger shots available in a prefilled syringe that could be kept in the refrigerator, so when the need for an emergency injection is required, it could be administered without the ambulance ride? The majority of these addicts have no HMO to cover the expense.
Please bear in mind that I know little of opioid addiction, but I suspect that there are numerous individuals or addicts in Escambia County that require these emergency injections from time to time, thus increasing the strain on EMS services. I do not understand why they cannot be driven in a POV to the ER, but what do I know.
I question that amount. I experienced EMS billing me for an ambulance ride I never had. After tracking down where the billing was coming from that amount was removed, but it took some work on my part to chase it down.
I’m sure they have debt from not getting paid, but it is easy to surmise that they have debt that isn’t real.
Just tell everyone that dont already know that the Ambulance is Free……Just remember the Ambulance is for EMERGENCY not cause you want to go straight to a room…….