This Is our Village

Thursday, January 10, 2019

AMR AMBULANCE SEMINAR - DO WE NEED THIS SERVICE?

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Dave Israel
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4 comments:

  1. Lanny HoweJanuary 10, 2019 at 10:03 PM

    How is it that our UCO ambulance charge did not go up in 2019? I thought AMR had discovered they were losing a lot of money on us so that we would have to increase their portion of our UCO dues we pay monthly by a large amount? Yet our Sheffield N budget calls for all units to pay $1.45, the same as in 2018 and 2017. In fact we've paid right around this amount for the past several years. Is the reason that AMR has cut back on its benefits — for example, not now paying for transportation from the first hospital to a hospital with an upgrade in services?

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  2. Bob RiveraJanuary 13, 2019 at 10:32 AM

    Since they are seemly unavailable more than available, it seems a waste of money to even keep these people on contract. Twice in the past year and a half (within 3 days of each other), they were unavailable and twice we had to pay the county for Big Red. Why bother having this service if they do not make themselves available to the village? AMR HAS TO GO.

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  3. Lanny HoweJanuary 14, 2019 at 2:07 AM

    Hi Bob,
    You certainly make a good point had you been eligible for AMR transportation both times. As you probably know, the Red Truck personnel, who come out first, assess how dire the situation is, and only if it's not life-threatening IN THEIR OPINION and the patient can wait 15 minutes or so, do they authorize AMR use. Red Truck personnel do not leave the patient until AMR arrives. Also, AMR uses another company (Medics Ambulance Service) when AMR is busy, which service CV residents also do not pay for. Sometimes (more than sometimes, I think) residents DO get billed for AMR/Medics transportation in error. IF you knew enough to contact UCO or AMR about this, they would straighten out the billing mistake.Bob Marshall often did this for our residents (note the "often").

    This does not strike me as a very well-organized plan. What do you do if you are on the Red Truck deciding whether to wait for AMS to arrive? AMS may have told you they'll be there in 15 minutes, but everyone knows that could end up being 30. The last thing our top emergency service should be doing is waiting around doing nothing for a long time.

    The Red Truck service is free, paid for by our taxes, unless they take you in their ambulance-truck to the hospital. If they do transport you, the charge, last I knew, usually came to about $1000. If you had insurance, however, 80% of this was often covered, so you were out-of-pocket only about $200-plus. Humana (a Medicare Advantage coverage many of our residents have) used to pay about the same (75-80%). And a number of Medigap plans (Medicare A & B and a supplemental coverage) also paid 100% of the Red Truck fee. In most cases, I believe it's NOT $1000 that one would be out-of-pocket if transported by Red Truck, but more likely $200-300.

    Is AMR then worth it? If their rates are going up substantially, I would think maybe not—as you think, Bob.

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    Replies
    1. Lanny HoweJanuary 14, 2019 at 2:14 AM

      Clarification about Bob M "often" helping you get the incorrect AMR billing straightened out: "Often" not because Bob sometimes wouldn't help you (he always would!), but "often" because AMR often made this billing error. And the error is understandable to an extent, because AMR also made outside-the-Village calls, for which they normally DID charge.

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