Numbers Show Pa. Mayor`s Backup Ambulance Plan More Expensive

April 08--WILKES-BARRE -- Mayor Tony George has repeatedly defended his controversial decision to make for-profit Trans-Med Ambulance the city's primary backup service by saying it charges much less than the city's current partners, but the Kingston-Forty Fort ambulance charges less in most cases.

Trans-Med's rates range between $450 for a basic life support call, or BLS, and $800 for an advanced life support transport, known as ALS, according to data provided by George last week.

Kingston Fire Chief Frank Guido, without knowing Trans-Med's rates, said Thursday that the Kingston-Forty Fort ambulance charges between $475 for BLS and $725 for ALS.

"The mayor's numbers, as far as them being the lowest, speak for themselves. They are not the lowest," Guido said.

According to figures supplied by George, Trans-Med's rates are $450 for a basic life support 1 call, $600 for a BLS 2, $700 for an advanced life support 1 call, and $800 for ALS 2.

The leaders of all three of the city's mutual aid partners questioned Trans-Med's two levels of BLS service. They said they've never heard of any EMS unit with two BLS classifications.

Dave Prohaska, public relations director for Trans-Med, said BLS 1 is for non-emergent calls, while BLS 2 is for emergencies.

Kingston's Medic 13 doesn't break down BLS calls into two categories, but all other charges are less than Trans-Med, according to figures supplied by the Kingston fire department and George. It charges a flat $475 for any BLS call, $675 for ALS 1, and $725 for ALS 2. The only Trans-Med charge less than Kingston's rates was for non-emergent BLS 1 calls -- a sub-classification other ambulance services which provided figures don't use.

The revelation comes days after city council passed a resolution urging George to keep intact a 4 1/2 -year-old mutual aid pact with ambulances in neighboring Kingston, and Hanover Plains townships.

Leaders of the non-profit ambulance services being ousted for Trans-Med also said the mayor has cited rates to justify his decision far too much because the industry is regulated by government-mandated price caps that are far less than the rates.

For people on state Medical Assistance, ambulance services are only reimbursed $125 for a BLS call and $200 for ALS -- and are forbidden by law from billing the patient anything else, they say.

There are also price controls for patients on Medicare. The average reimbursement to the city from Medicare is between $350 and $415, and the law also forbids further billing, Wilkes-Barre Fire Chief Jay Delaney said.

People on Medical Assistance and Medicare account for 68 percent of all patients requiring an ambulance in Wilkes-Barre, the chief said.

"The law tells us we're going to write off two-thirds of our calls," Delaney said.

In an interview last week, George agreed with the percentage of calls Delaney cited. He claimed the savings to residents would come for those with private insurance, who would be billed the outstanding balance of what insurance didn't cover.

At the time, George maintained Trans-Med offered the lowest price.

The mayor said he hadn't solicited rates from the other municipalities, but believed that fire department leadership had said that the city's rates were less than its mutual aid partners and Trans-Med's proposed rates were less than the city's. As recently as Wednesday, George maintained Trans-Med is "the lowest-cost provider."

Not only does Kingston-Forty Fort Medic 13 charge a cheaper rate in most cases, it does not bill out-of-pocket for calls in Wilkes-Barre for people with private insurance, said Charlie Bloom, treasurer of the association.

"Whatever the insurance company pays, we take it," Bloom said.

Bloom said Kingston's ambulance association has a yearly membership drive and those who pay the small fee are not responsible for any out-of-pocket costs for an ambulance call. They extended that courtesy to everyone they treated in Wilkes-Barre, he said.

"We treat them as if they are a member," Bloom said.

It wasn't immediately clear if and how Hanover Township's Medic 9 and Plains Township's Medic 2 billed Wilkes-Barre patients for what insurance didn't cover.

George's spokeswoman said he was not available Thursday as he was in Scranton attending the visit by former President Bill Clinton.

Under the mutual aid agreement being scrapped, Hanover's Medic 9 was backup for the southern end of the city, Kingston's Medic 13 handled Center City, Plains' Medic 2 served the northern part of the city and Trans-Med was the primary backup for the Heights, North End and East End.

The city calls for backup when its two ambulances are busy.

Some argue the city should launch a third ambulance, but the program already teeters on the edge of self sufficiency and the city "would have to put up another $800,000" per year to run a third unit with no guarantee to recoup that much in reimbursements and payments, Delaney said.

Giving overflow calls to backup ambulance companies also trying to survive in the tough business has been the preferred way to go, the chief said.

The city budgeted $1.62 million in 2015 to run its two ambulances and collected just a little more than that in reimbursements and payments by patients. In other years, costs far outweighed reimbursements, Delaney acknowledged.

Angela Patla, a city paramedic who also is the operations manager of Plains Township's Medic 2, questioned if Trans-Med would be as forgiving as the nonprofits when it came to billing patients.

"Any time a private, for-profit corporation is favored over a community-based, nonprofit entity, it is a step backward," Patla said. "You write off a lot of money in lost reimbursements. It's what you do as a community based organization."

bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com

570-821-2055, @cvbobkal

BREAKOUT:

Councilwoman slams George proposal

Wilkes-Barre Councilwoman Beth Gilbert on Thursday fired off a letter to Mayor Tony George, urging him to halt his plans to make for-profit Trans-Med Ambulance the primary backup service for the city.

"City Council, the public, and our EMS workers have spoken regarding whether or not this new plan should be implemented, and the answer is a resounding no," Gilbert wrote.

Gilbert, in her first year on council, said she's sought input from the city's paramedics and the public. She said she has "not heard one positive comment regarding the change in our services."

"Our current agreement, backed by our neighboring municipalities, (is) for people, not for profit," Gilbert wrote.

BREAKOUT:

Rates for basic life support (BLS) and advanced life support (ALS)

TRANS-MED

BLS 1 -- $450

BLS 2 -- $600

ALS 1 -- $700

ALS 2 -- $800

MEDIC 13 -- KINGSTON-FORTY FORT

BLS -- $475

ALS 1 -- $675

ALS 2 -- $725

WILKES-BARRE:

BLS -- $645

ALS 1 -- $775

ALS 2 -- $831

MEDIC 2 -- PLAINS

BLS -- $625

ALS 1 -- $775

ALS 2 -- $875

MEDIC 9 -- HANOVER

Declined to provide rates

SOURCE: Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tony George, Wilkes-Barre City Council, Kingston Medic 13, and Plains Township Medic 2

Copyright 2016 - The Citizens' Voice, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.