Okla. Shooting Victim Disputes Ambulance Bill
Feb. 29-- Wesley Nelson said the last thing he thought he'd have to worry about after being shot four times by a burglar was his ambulance bill.
Nelson is among more than 100,000 Tulsans who pay a fee on their utility bills for ambulance service by the Emergency Medical Services Authority. Nelson, who was uninsured at the time, said EMSA threatened to turn him over to collections until the agency's bill was eventually paid by a state crime victims compensation fund.
EMSA bills insurance for those who have it, and the agency claims the utility program covers any out-of-pocket costs for emergency transport. The program is supposed to cover service for the uninsured. Records show Nelson's address is listed in the program.
Additionally, state law says medical providers are not allowed to threaten to turn victims' bills over to a collections agency once they have filed a claim with the Crime Victims Compensation Fund. It is unclear whether that occurred in Nelson's case.
"I said I was a victim of a crime and that I understood that the crime victims compensation board would consider paying the bill and that I was totally unemployed and couldn't pay the bill ... They said it would go to collections," Nelson said.
EMSA CEO Steve Williamson did not respond to a request for comment.
EMSA is a government agency that provides ambulance service to more than 1 million people in Tulsa, Oklahoma City and surrounding suburbs.
The utility program was pitched as a way to pay out-of-pocket costs for those in the program, including the uninsured. Tulsa residents pay a monthly fee of $3.64, and Oklahoma City residents pay $3.65.
Mayor Dewey Bartlett declined a request for an interview with the Tulsa World. Through a spokesman, he issued a written statement: "EMSA was able to transport Mr. Nelson to the hospital quickly to deal with the severity of his wounds and I am so grateful Mr. Nelson is alive and well.
"Recent newspaper articles have reported scenarios of which this is one and at this point we do not have enough facts to understand the full story. ... We continue to meet with EMSA officials on a variety of issues, including the TotalCare program, to provide the best emergency medical service to the citizens of Tulsa."
A Tulsa World investigation has found EMSA sued two Tulsans who were enrolled in the utility program at the time of their ambulance transports, records show. The agency also spent lavishly on retirement parties, travel and furnishings and transferred funds between divisions without informing city officials.
Despite an early promise that EMSA would not bill residents, the agency apparently sends bills to patients, even some paying the fee, records show. The bill -- which says "please pay this amount" at the bottom -- does not indicate that residents are members of the utility program and do not need to pay it, records show.
Nelson interrupted a burglary at his home in the 3900 block of South Madison Avenue on July 27, 2010. He testified during a preliminary hearing that he came home for lunch and found two teens taking his television.
One ran out the back door, and Nelson followed the second as he ran into Nelson's bedroom, where the youth had Nelson's loaded .38-caliber in his hand. The two struggled, and the teen shot Nelson in the head, both shoulders and between the shoulder blades.
The shooter kept "dry-firing" the gun "right at my face ... pulling the trigger over and over," Nelson testified during the hearing in October 2010.
"I was just hoping the pain would stop before I died," he testified.
Christian Raber, who was 17 at the time, pleaded guilty to charges that included shooting with intent to kill and is serving a 38-year prison sentence.
Nelson, interviewed by the World on Tuesday, said he spent months recovering with the help of family. He began receiving bills from EMSA about a month after the shooting. He said he called EMSA's billing department and told them that he had applied to the Crime Victims Compensation Fund for assistance.
Nelson said he knew that he paid the utility fee but did not know the fee covered ambulance transports for the uninsured. He said EMSA was well aware of his home address, which records show is included in the program, but never told him he was a member of the program.
"Just basic information should have led them to check the database," he said. "They picked me up from my house. My driver's license has my home address on it. They had all of the resources available."
He said EMSA's attempts to collect on the bill "went on for seven or eight months and (included) lots of threatening letters."
"They said this account is so many days past due, they are going to turn me over to a collection agency. I figured that whenever they got paid they would just go away, and they did."
Nelson said the EMSA bill was among the medical bills paid by the state victims compensation fund. He said because he was in the utility program, he believes EMSA should have covered his transport instead of taking money from the fund.
"I would like to see the victims compensation board get its money back," Nelson said.
State law authorizes the victims program regulations, including prohibiting debt collection from those who have filed a claim. Nelson said he filed his claim in October and could not recall the dates of conversations he had with EMSA's billing department.
"All health care providers that have been given notice of a pending claim, shall refrain from all debt collection activities relating to medical treatment received by the person," the regulation states. It defines debt collection as "threatening either to turn the matter over to a debt collection agency or to an attorney."
Ziva Branstetter 918-581-8306
ziva.branstetter@tulsaworld.com
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