Billing For EMS in Oklahoma Causes Angst
Feb. 26-- EMSA has sued at least two Tulsa residents over ambulance bills they didn't owe because they were already enrolled in a program that adds a monthly fee to utility bills for ambulance service, records show.
One woman said she was "on the verge of a nervous breakdown" after the Emergency Medical Services Authority turned her account over to a law firm for collection.
Another man said he didn't know EMSA had won a judgment against him in Tulsa District Court earlier this month until informed by the Tulsa World. Records show EMSA's attorneys were sending notices to the man's former address while his current address is listed in city utility records as covered under the program.
The agency has received complaints from residents in Tulsa and Oklahoma City who were billed and turned over to collections even though they said they were enrolled in the utility program, records show.
EMSA is a government agency that provides ambulance service to more than 1 million people in Tulsa, Oklahoma City and surrounding areas. Residents in both cities pay a fee on utility bills for ambulance service: $3.64 per month in Tulsa and $3.65 per month in Oklahoma City.
Kelli Bruer, a spokeswoman for EMSA, said in an email to the World that the agency makes multiple attempts to confirm whether patients live at an address covered under the utility program. She said EMSA tracks accounts by address, not name, because of the number of common names and because the program covers all permanent members of the household.
"At any point in time, even after court action is pursued, if the individual notifies EMSA or the collection agency that they are a city utility fee customer ... EMSA calls the account back from the collection agency, verifies the new stated address as opted-in and any out-of-pocket charges from the patient are written off," Bruer said.
Priscilla Johnson is among more than 1,000 people sued by EMSA in Tulsa and Oklahoma county district courts for indebtedness since 2009, records show.
Tulsa's utility fee program began July 1, 2007, and Oklahoma City began its program in 2008. Ambulance services are covered for all members of the household in EMSA's service area unless the utility bill recipient opts out, according to ordinances in both cities.
The car Johnson was driving was struck by a drunken driver in north Tulsa on Oct. 27, 2007, nearly four months after the utility fee program began, records show. Johnson was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where she was treated and released.
Utility records show Johnson, 59, has never opted out of the fee at the home on North Harvard Avenue where she has lived for a dozen years. Yet soon after her accident, she said, she began receiving bills for the ambulance service.
She said she tried to tell officials at EMSA that she should not have to pay the bill. The driver who struck Johnson's car was uninsured, she said.
"I kept saying, 'Why are you all billing me because I've been paying a water bill for over 35 years?' "
Johnson said she soon began getting calls from Works & Lentz, the law firm EMSA contracts with to collect past-due accounts.
"Works & Lentz called me every single day. I work and get off at 3 in the morning. ... It stressed me out so bad."
Records show EMSA sued Johnson in 2009 and reached a settlement for $1,197.
She said she could not afford a lawyer. When the law firm said her wages would be garnished, Johnson said she agreed to a payment because she did not want the matter to interfere with her new job.
"They harassed me so bad when I told them I may be late on a payment. ... I paid them almost $200 a month for almost a year."
Records show EMSA's contract with Works & Lentz gives the law firm 35 percent of the funds it collects on past-due EMSA accounts. A collections agency, FMS Inc., receives 50 percent of what it collects from past-due EMSA accounts.
EMSA President Steve Williamson declined a request for an interview, and the agency responded in writing to the World's questions. The statement says Works & Lentz "conducts themselves ethically and within the guidelines of the Fair Debt Collection Protection Act."
"Our billing and collection process is thorough and can be trusted. It is similar to any healthcare organization our size," the statement says. "When you consider that we transport more than 160,000 patients every year, and less than 1 percent of all of our accounts wind up in small claims court or complain, you can see that our process is solid and fair."
City of Tulsa records show Johnson's home address is on the list of more than 100,000 residents who have not opted out of the EMSA utility fee. City records show she did not opt out of the program in 2007, when her accident occurred.
Johnson said EMSA should refund the money she paid plus interest.
"I felt they weren't really doing their job and they should have checked. They are supposed to be professional."
Bruer said while EMSA cannot address individual cases because of patient confidentiality, "in cases reaching back to 2007, we have no way to confirm what the utility database indicated at the time."
"However any patient that was billed during this time would have received by mail multiple statements (in some instances as many as seven) and at least one phone call from EMSA billing staff," Bruer's email states.
"At any point in time ... if a patient tells us they are a city utility fee customer and we can verify that fact, EMSA and its collection agency stops the billing process."
Robert Mitchell and his wife were also sued for ambulance bills despite the fact that they have not opted out of the fee at their current address, records show.
Mitchell, who is retired, said he was walking down a sidewalk in west Tulsa last year when he became light-headed and passed out. He said he was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where he stayed for several days.
Mitchell said that when he began getting bills from EMSA, he thought it was another medical bill and that Medicare would cover it.
"We were kind of confused about it because I thought it was just medical bills. ... We didn't know it was for the ambulance."
EMSA's statements contain the agency's logo and include phone numbers to call for questions.
City of Tulsa records show that Mitchell and his wife began getting utility service at their address on Latimer Place in February 2011 and did not opt out of the utility fee. Mitchell said May 11, 2011, was the day he was taken to the hospital, according to his medical bills.
Records show EMSA sued Mitchell and his wife Dec. 30 in Tulsa District Court. Mitchell's wife was served with the lawsuit at her workplace. Works & Lentz continues to send correspondence to the couple's old address on West Golden Street, records show.
The current resident of that address has not opted out of the fee, according to city utility records.
The Mitchells did not contest the suit, and EMSA won a default judgment of about $1,100 on Feb. 2, records show.
"We didn't know what they were suing us for. We just know we got that judgment against us," Robert Mitchell said.
He said his wife planned to have $150 taken out of her paychecks to cover the cost.
Harry Lentz, an attorney for Works & Lentz, said in an email that Mitchell provided a home address that EMSA's database showed had opted out of the program.
"The correspondence we sent to that address was not returned. In separate conversations we had with Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell, the issue of coverage under the water bill program was never raised. Rather, the topic of both conversations was an effort to work out a payment plan to pay the account."
Lentz said if anyone tells the law firm that they have coverage under the utility plan, "our responsibility to EMSA is to immediately cease our collection efforts until EMSA determines whether or not the patient was covered under the water bill program."
EMSA's written statement says the agency verifies addresses through the patient, the city utility database and a third-party online database. If the agency has obtained a court judgment against residents who can later prove they lived at an address covered by the program, EMSA will consider refunding the money, the statement said.
"Every year, close to 20,000 residents of Tulsa are not charged out-of-pocket fees to use our service. Last year alone, we wrote off more than $5 million in charges for Tulsa residents as a result of this program," the statement says.
Ziva Branstetter 918-581-8306
ziva.branstetter@tulsaworld.com
Copyright 2012 - Tulsa World, Okla.
