UPDATE: Most of the Sioux Falls City Council still in denial we are subsidizing Paramedics Plus

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FF: 1:32:30 – Sioux Falls City Council Meeting, 11/13/2018

Watch the discussion about the six-year contract extension for the private ambulance service.

I guess you can continue to repeat a lie hoping people will finally believe you. Certain councilors continue to say we are NOT subsidizing PP, but we are, and it costs taxpayers a lot. The SFFD and the SFPD usually are the first to show up to a medical emergency. Just a few years ago, a study from the SFFD showed that over 90% of fire calls are medical emergencies. We also are going to now have ALS trained firefighters so they can use life-saving procedures when they are the first to arrive. Which is awesome, since we have no idea when our private contractor is going to show.

Last I checked our firefighters and police were NOT volunteer, and the gas that fuels their vehicles is not FREE. By showing up first to these emergencies we are essentially subsidizing PP and getting no reimbursement. Taxpayers are swallowing that cost.

Some councilors are so against a public ambulance service they continue to peddle the lie that it would cost taxpayers more. Not sure what math they are using. Right now we get ZERO reimbursement for being the first responder, if we provided the entire ambulance service we could bill the patients or their insurance provider.

I guess I kind of understand why some councilors are against a public ambulance service, because it will take a lot of work and initial capital to get one started. But please, just admit you are against it, and STOP LYING to the public. We are subsidizing PP, and that’s a fact.

UPDATE: FF: 1:09:40 – Changing time limit of public input for 2nd readings to 5 minutes.

You know my feelings on this. I think if it is a 2nd reading and people are trying to protect their neighborhood, property or welfare as long as they are being pertinent to the topic and not repeating other testimony, they should have no time limit. This is how the Minnehaha County Commission handles it, and it works well. Brekke has proposed they change it from the very restrictive 3 minutes to 5 minutes. While I will applaud her effort in making it better, we could go further. Other councilors including Councilor Neitzert agree it was too restrictive and needs to change. I thanked Greg last night for his testimony. He pointed out the real problem with public input had more to do with the previous chair than the public itself. The former chair ran the meetings horribly, and treated citizens with extreme disrespect. I predicted when they made the changes that they were not needed because the chair and a certain other councilor who were contributing to the disruption would be gone. Council is now realizing that is exactly the case, and I am happy some of them are seeing it.

Now they need to overturn Rolfing/Erpenbach’s horrible majority vote council seat resolution.

Posted in: Paramedics Plus, SF City Council, SFFD, Sioux Falls

UPDATE: Is Paramedics Plus looking to renew 5 year contract early?

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UPDATE: Please tell me that the TenHaken administration is looking at public ambulances;

It’s unclear if Mayor Paul TenHaken’s administration intends to support REMSA’s recommendation, though T.J. Nelson, deputy chief of staff in the mayor’s office, said TenHaken and the city health department will bring a recommendation of their own next month.

“We’re still formalizing what our recommendation will be,” he said.

Paramedics Plus executives could not be reached for comment.

Ultimately, the decision about extending Paramedics Plus’ contract lies with the City Council, which has members who have been critical of service in Sioux Falls.

I have heard from within the SFFD that many of the higher ups support a public ambulance service, and have for years, but have gotten resistance from the former mayor and chief. Maybe this will create a golden opportunity for TenHaken to achieve that goal. Maybe taxpayers will actually get something back from providing the service instead of just subsidizing a private service.

Rumor has it that the Sioux Falls city council was recently informed by the Health Department that PP was looking to renew their 5 year contract early. It isn’t scheduled to expire for another 2 years(?).

I find it a little suspicious with all the talk about public ambulance service and the SFFD training in ALS (Advanced Life Support) that PP is looking to renew 2 years early.

Could they be concerned the city may change it’s service to another company or better yet public ambulances within 2 years? The city could certainly fast-track and have a public ambulance service available within two years.

It will be interesting to see what the reasoning is behind the early renewal and if the city will allow it.

Posted in: Paramedics Plus, SF City Council, SFFD, Sioux Falls

Breaking; Paramedics Plus and Parent Companies pay out $21 million settlement

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We warned the city council about doing business with these folks, deaf ears;

Seven ambulance industry defendants have agreed to pay the government a total of over $21 million to settle a False Claims Act lawsuit alleging that they knowingly submitted claims to the Medicare and Medicaid programs that violated the Anti‑Kickback Statute, the Justice Department announced today.

The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits offering, paying, soliciting, or receiving remuneration to induce referrals of items or services covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and other federally funded programs.  The Anti-Kickback Statute is intended to ensure that medical providers’ judgments are not compromised by improper financial incentives and are instead based on the best interests of their patients.

The settlements announced today resolve allegations brought in a whistleblower action filed under the False Claims Act in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas by Stephen Dean.  Dr. Dean alleged that East Texas Medical Center Regional Healthcare System, Inc. and East Texas Medical Center Regional Health Services, Inc. (together, “the ETMC Defendants”), and their affiliated ambulance company, Paramedics Plus, LLC (“Paramedics Plus”), offered kickbacks to several municipal entities to secure their lucrative ambulance business, including Emergency Medical Services Authority (“EMSA”), Alameda County, California, and Pinellas County Emergency Medical Services Authority in Florida (“Pinellas EMSA”).  The False Claims Act authorizes private parties to file suit for false claims on behalf of the United States, and permits the United States to intervene in such suits, as it did here in part.

It seems more and more, the city likes doing partnerships with crooks.

Posted in: Paramedics Plus

Would it be in Paramedics Plus best interest to sell their Sioux Falls branch?

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Paramedics Plus also runs an EMS school in Sioux Falls

I’m not sure what plans the company has, if any. But if they are looking to sell it would have little to do with the recent ‘Phantom’ ambulance fiasco.

As you know, the company as a whole is being investigated in almost every state they are in by the Feds except in South Dakota (so far). It wouldn’t be to far-fetched for them to cut their losses and get out of the Sioux Falls market before that hammer drops, if it ever does.

Let’s say they do sell, how will that affect ambulance service in Sioux Falls? Will we have to start the contract process over before the buyer can just move in?

Like I said, I have no idea if they are looking to sell, but something to ponder if it does happen.

Posted in: Paramedics Plus, Sioux Falls

UPDATE: Is Paramedics Plus using a ‘Phantom Ambulance’ as their mutual aid?

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Tonight on Stormland-TV, Investikeneke Angela is doing a story about the games PP has been playing since they implemented their ‘secret’ pilot program to help correct level zeros.

Teasers are HERE & HERE. UPDATE: Another story

The biggest concern is that PP has created fake mutual aid ambulances so that they still get the call and avoid zero level;

We’ve uncovered some of those late calls when no ambulance was available. But dispatchers no longer call it a Level Zero. Instead, it sounds something like this:

“Priority one for 980. Be advised that 980 is still on the call, 962 is at Sanford and will be clearing shortly to be enroute.”So while 980 sounds like an ambulance, it’s not, causing some to question is there is a “phantom ambulance” in Sioux Falls.

I was first told about this about a month ago (apparently the person who tipped me off went to Angela to). As I was asking questions about this and listening to different radio traffic, from talking to other ambulance service EMTs and providers in the region, one word kept coming up while describing PP’s new pilot program, “Corrupt”. And it wasn’t only competition that was saying this, one of their employees described the operations of PP as ‘F*cked’.

So how does this work if this is what they are truly doing?

It’s actually quite simple. In order to avoid a ‘level zero’ as an ambulance provider you have to make sure you have mutual aid in route to an emergency scene if all your ambulances are busy. Since PP has the contract with the city to provide exclusive ambulance service in Sioux Falls, they must call in mutual aid if all of their ambulances are busy. And they are busy quite often, making transports between SF hospitals, which is guaranteed revenue and at a lower risk. So when this happens, the accusation is that instead of calling in actual mutual aid (Like Med Star) they call a phantom service called a ‘980 to 989’. 911 dispatch of course are saying it is NOT a fake ambulance but another name for a Level Zero – Well isn’t that comforting. So while this FAKE level zero is happening, PP can finish their transport without getting called out on a ‘level zero’ and once the transport is finished, they call off the 980 and respond to the call, restarting the clock all over again. By this time, it could be over 45 minutes before the ambulance arrives. Rumor has it that in some cases people waited so long, they just had a family member drive them to the hospital, others died waiting.

While all of this sounds pretty crazy, it’s not to hard to pull off. Our health director, Jill Franken and REMSA have been tight lipped about this secret pilot program, so we have NO idea WHAT they are doing to fix the level zero calls, they refused to talk to KELO.

It will be interesting to see what Angela has uncovered, but the evidence I have been shown isn’t flattering.

Posted in: Paramedics Plus, Sioux Falls