Tag Archive: Finance

By Anthony W. Minge, EdD “From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us!” — Scottish saying Have you ever heard that noise in the middle of the night? You know, the one just when you are dozing off and there it is … thump! And…

View Article

How the optimism divide between leaders and providers will shape EMS’ future

Last week, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced proposed changes to how it reimburses home health agencies. Specifically, CMS will now allow home health providers to report the costs of remote monitoring. Like many initiatives happening at the local, state and national levels, this move by CMS appears to recognize and support…

View Article

City and county officials, EMS agency directors and fire chiefs who struggle to balance budgets may want to analyze the efficacy of their EMS billing operations to recover additional revenue.

In its second year, the EMS Trend Report describes revealing changes in clinical care, finance and the use of technology in EMS

Climbing the ranks of EMS often fails to prepare new chiefs to discuss financial issues with local elected and appointed officials By Dianne Wright Local government budget processes may seem daunting at first, especially for new leaders whose focus has just recently shifted from EMS operations and patient care. Whether you recently took over as…

View Article

It’s time for EMS leaders and educators to take compliance training as seriously as clinical training – caregivers’ careers and patients’ lives depend on it By Anthony Minge It seems like you can’t go a day lately without seeing a report or article related to compliance issues in health care. The statutes, guidelines, regulations and…

View Article

Rarely does a week go by without another news report about an ambulance service or hospital under investigation by the federal government for fraud or abuse related to billing for transport services. Whether willful or unintentional, negligence that results in the billing of transport services at inappropriate levels is leaving many hospital-operated ambulance services at risk. And the scrutiny is only increasing.

We asked the members of the National EMS Management Association (NEMSMA) what they thought were the most critical issues plaguing EMS. Though members acknowledged significant concerns, including patient safety, fiscal sustainability and caregiver well-being, there were still some unrecognized elephants in the room that no one wants to see, hear or talk about. Here are those 10 harmful realities of modern EMS and proposed strategies to overcome them.

Increased attention on ambulance use demonstrates the need for compliance plans to include emergency and non-emergency ambulance operations. The HHS OIG has published voluntary compliance program guidance for ambulance suppliers. Ambulance billing should reflect the care provided by the EMS personnel, not the hospital diagnosis of the patient. Training for billing personnel and EMS providers on documentation and billing for ambulance services is often inadequate. Ambulance suppliers should conduct regular claims reviews to ensure problems are identified and corrected prior to an audit.