Local ambulance companies being driven out of business by low reimbursement rates

By

The overriding issue Pennsylvania ambulance companies like Second Alarmer’s are struggling with today is adequate reimbursement for their services.

It’s not a job he wants to do. But it’s one he spends more and more time doing.

Ken Davidson spends more time than he’d like explaining ambulance bills to customers who are upset and sometimes irate.

“People complain about a bill for transporting them a quarter-mile,” said Davidson, assistant chief of the Second Alarmer’s Association and Rescue Squad in Willow Grove. “But it’s not just the quarter-mile. We took you in an ambulance that cost $200,000 to $220,000 and had another $90,000 worth of equipment on it. There’s also the expertise of the paramedic and EMT [emergency medical technician] and having them ready to go 24/7. There is a cost for that readiness,” writes John George in the Philadelphia Business Journal.

[uam_ad id=”54865″]


The overriding issue Pennsylvania ambulance companies like Second Alarmer’s are struggling with today is adequate reimbursement for their services. Emergency transportation providers say payments by private health insurers and government health programs fall well below actual costs. At the same time, they say the use of collection agencies — who keep a portion of the money they recover to collect unpaid customer bills — has increased.

Such payments problems, the companies say, are already claiming victims and threatening the long-term viability of others.

Heather Sharar, executive director of the Ambulance Association of Pennsylvania, said reimbursement woes combined with staffing challenges have resulted in the closing of about 150 basic life-support service providers and about a dozen advanced life-support providers statewide over the last five years. That has also resulted in the loss of more than 10,000 jobs statewide.

This year, the EMS providers successfully lobbied for an increase in the rates paid by the state’s medical assistance program — the first increase in 14 years and only the third in 40 years. The increases, which go into effect Jan. 1, will take payments for basic life support to $180 from $120 per transport and for advanced life support to $300 from $200.

“That’s huge because the medical assistance population has increased, but it doesn’t solve all our problems,” she said, noting Medicaid patients on average comprise about 30 percent of an EMS provider’s call volume.

To read the complete story click here.

[uam_ad id=”54875″]

Stay Connected, Stay Informed

Subscribe for great stories in your community!

"*" indicates required fields

Hidden
MT Yes
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Advertisement