The Three Rivers Ambulance Authority board filed a motion at its June 23 meeting to find ambulance contractor Paramedics Logistics, LLC, in non-compliance of its contract. The board voted unanimously to accept the motion, which triggered a 30-day period for the company to resolve their non-compliance issues.
Paramedics Logistics, LLC, has been contracted by TRAA since 2009 to provide paramedic and EMT personnel and handle daily operations. The TRAA board motion asked for the executive director and legal counsel to put the contractor on notice for major default.
According to a news release, “This signals the Board’s intent to take over daily operation from Paramedics Logistics, LLC, through a methodical transition of operation without detrimental impact to patient care.”
It has a 20-monthlong compliance rate that is below the required standard benchmark of 90% on Priority 1 dispatched calls. Priority 1 calls are high acuity runs. They include strokes, heart attacks, major trauma and difficulty breathing. Ambulances must respond to a Priority 1 call in 8½ minutes or less to be in compliance. Additionally, there are other factors that can also affect non-compliance.
The June compliance rate to date is 68.01%. The May compliance rate was 77.35%.
The board also discussed TRAA’s terminated EMS MC billing contractor, which has $5.7 million in collections outstanding through April.
“Under normal collection rates we would have expected to generate about $1.9 million of that outstanding balance in income,” TRAA Executive Director Joel Benz said.
The North Carolina-based billing company EMS MC was responsible for collecting emergent (emergency) billing fees. Their services were terminated June 16 during an executive session of the TRAA board. Continued low collection rates for TRAA emergency services rendered was the main reason cited for severing ties with the billing company.
EMS MC did not respond to repeated requests for comment by Business Weekly after the meeting.
“Just to reiterate, they have been doing our emergent billing for nine months. Their collection rate has not increased despite weekly meetings to address their issues … They would like to retain our business. Obviously, I don’t think that is feasible at this point. But they do have some ideas to de-risk our transition away from them,” he said.
After receiving a termination letter, EMS MC reached out to TRAA to request a meeting. According to an excerpt of the executive director’s report, EMS MC leadership wants to “…discuss changes we have made and updated revenue projections we have calculated. If you still feel that we are not the ambulance billing service provider for TRAA we would have some ideas to de-risk your transition from EMS MC.”
A meeting between TRAA and EMS MC was held June 24. “They just wanted to continue doing work for us,” Benz said. “And we just said we’re going to make a split. That is about as far as it got. We are just going to go our separate ways.”
“During this 60-day wind-down period (with EMS MC) they have time to go back and work those accounts,” Benz said. “Hopefully, we will see them collect some of that. Our (TRAA) folks are still going over accounts for them to make sure we are generating whatever revenue is out there.”
The board meeting at the TRAA office, 525 Hayden St., included a report on the contract status of Med-Bill, a billing company that is being considered as a replacement contractor by TRAA leadership.
Potential new billing vendor Med-Bill Corporation is an Indianapolis-based ambulance billing company and has sent a contract to TRAA. The Fort Wayne legal office of Fletcher Van Gilder is currently reviewing the contract. A new emergency billing provider is expected to be in place Aug. 17.
“We have a few things we want to see added to it to make sure that we are protected as an organization,” Benz said.
TRAA has been in several recent conversations with Med-Bill Corporation.
“We feel very confident in their ability to pick up and do a good job for us,” Benz said.
In other matters
In May, TRAA saw an upswing in Allen County-aided assists with ambulance transports. Over the last 90 days TRAA is averaging over five Allen County assists a day. Depending on the location of the call it could be any township provider.
May transports were 66.8 per day. This is well under budget projections of 75.5 per day for 2022.
“We have talked to Parkview and Lutheran to farm those (transports) out as we are able. Historically, we have a 45-minute window to decide if we are going to be able to get to it,” he said.
Additionally, requests for non-emergency transfers have been trending down as facilities find alternative ways to transport patients.
Staffing is on an upswing. Currently, full-time TRAA staff is at 66 with an additional 18 part-timers.
“Total full-time staff continues to increase, which is encouraging. The contractor has been negotiating with the union to reopen part-time hiring. We have been working to find alternative staffing solutions,” Benz said. Adding, “A significant portion of the workforce is still in training. I think there are about 22 who are in various training stages. Once those folks get out on the streets, we will see some impact on compliance.”
Discussions among Mayor Tom Henry’s office, the Allen County commissioners, various members of City Council and the Fort Wayne controller’s office about potential funding for salaries have been had.
The general feeling is they are amenable to some sort of funding. However, they did have some requirements moving forward before they would consider giving us funding. Concerns about the contractor, Paramedics Logistics, LLC, were at the forefront of not receiving additional funding for salaries now, Benz said.
Engagement with patients by medics was at 84%. Down 3% from last month. It is still well above the national benchmark. Satisfaction increased to 98% from 97%. Mike Bureau, COO, TRAA, said.
New business
A motion to approve the policy regarding remote participation during board meetings was made. The board voted unanimously to accept the motion. Included in the policy is a provision that at least 50% of the board members must be physically present at a board meeting when a remote member may want to participate via electronic communication.
