Foster Township residents had a chance to view, listen and ask
questions of the Bradford City Ambulance service Wednesday night in
an informational meeting.
The same presentation that was held during a Tuna Valley Council
of Governments informational meeting in August by paramedics Rich
Zmuda, J.D. Tehle and Fire Chief Bill McCormack was presented to
about 30 residents on hand.
“We don’t want to lost you guys,” said Tehle after the Power
Point presentation. “We have heard, ‘how come you guys don’t want
to service us anymore?’ – That has nothing to do with it.”
Supervisor Chairman Bob Slike Jr. asked the representatives to
talk about the financial aspect of the proposal by the city to the
townships.
The city has proposed that in order to keep the city ambulance
service responding to the townships, they contribute their fair
share toward ambulance costs, maintenance and call-out time of
responders for coverage of manpower out on a call.
To clarify the cost to each household, Supervisor M. Chris
Wolcott said residents would not have to hand over the $8.09 to the
city themselves, but the township needs to figure out a way to pay
what would equal that amount per household, or a total of $14,560.
That amount would cover the 14 percent of calls the city makes to
the township as averaged over three years.
McCormack explained the amount of payment from Medicare on calls
of an Advanced Life Support (ALS) call as charged at $550; of that,
Medicare will approve $278.96, the patient co-pay would be $69.74
and for a Basic Life Support (BLS) call, which is charged at $350,
of that Medicare will pay $220.92 and the patient co-pay would be
$55.23.
Medicaid payments for ALS calls are $200 of the $550 charge and
payments for BLS calls at a base of $350 are $100.
One man asked McCormack what percentage of the crew’s calls were
made to Medicare or Medicaid patients.
McCormack said he could not be positive but said about 20
percent of calls are made to Medicaid patients, 60 percent to
Medicare patients and the other 20 percent to privately insured
individuals and others.
“Everybody in the township is feeling the crunch,” said the man
who asked the question. “The cost of everything is spiraling up. I
will pay my fair share, but I certainly don’t want to be paying for
a bunch of deadbeats!”
Questions were then asked as to collection of the co-pays or
otherwise if the patient does not pay. It was explained the
ambulance department is notified when the subscriber is sent the
money to pay the ambulance bill. If that subscriber does not use
the money to pay, and the city knows that they received it, after
30 days they will be sent to collection.
McCormack did say there are times people can prove hardship and
their remainder of payment can be forgiven.
Another man asked where the money from the private insurance
holders goes. He was told the expenses the township is not being
asked to support are covered by those.
Someone in the audience asked about Priority Care Ambulance
service and the supervisors cautioned the meeting was strictly to
hear from the city ambulance service providers.
Wolcott addressed the crowd, “We want to provide the best care
we can without it costing the residents any more money than it has
to.”
Another question concerned how many calls they respond to that
they find there is no service required. In response, McCormack said
about 10 to 20 percent, depending on weather and other possible
hazards. Then it was explained there is no charge for the call.
A question on cost per city household on ambulance calls went
unanswered, but Mayor Michele Corignani, who was also present, told
the supervisors that the numbers would be figured and sent to the
supervisors for residents to see.
Through the presentation it was discovered that the city has
been operating the ambulance service for 16 years rather than the
20 initially reported. Even with a change in the amount of years,
the city taxpayers have still been paying for service to their own
and outlying areas.
Debbie Price, current vice president of patient care services,
announced that she was at the meeting on behalf of Bradford
Regional Medical Center and had something to say.
“I understand the cost of maintenance and equipment, but the
staff in the emergency room know that it is important that the
patient comes to the hospital in the best state they could be in.
And it is important for them to come to the hospital timely.
“I can absolutely verify the cost of technology is
astronomical,” she added. “Eight dollars and some cents doesn’t
seem like a lot to save a life.”
Showing support for keeping the Bradford City Ambulance service
was Sally Scrivo, township emergency management director on behalf
of the Derrick City Volunteer Fire Department, and for the Rew
Volunteer Fire Department was Scott Gibbs, vice president.
“I am the Derrick City voice in support of the Bradford City
Ambulance Service and we are 100 percent in favor of keeping them,”
said Scrivo. “They are always operating at full staff … they are
professional and compassionate … and patients are treated with
respect.
“We need to keep the teamwork in our township for our citizens,”
added Scrivo.
Gibbs said, “It has been our experience that the city provides
better service in our area and have better availability and better
quality of service. They are the best value for the money for an
unlimited number of calls when others charge $40 for a limited
number of calls.”
Many residents also commended the service provided by the city,
but asked the supervisors to keep them informed and look for other
avenues than real estate taxes or even occupational privilege
taxes.
The supervisors said they would welcome any correspondence from
residents and will keep them informed before making a decision.
Slike asked Corignani if they might have an extension on their
decision time. She said they could, and that Oct. 19 was still a
reasonable amount of time.
