NYT Article on EMS Billing

[DesertMedic66]

I mean sure, the comments are misguided, but reading the lead-in...



Holy rip up those paramedic's cards Batman. A C-collar for messed up teeth while swimming?! Outrageous. And a nearly $2k bill for a BLS ride?

They don't have a public relation problem if that's what's getting billed.

They have a system problem.

That's around the average price for an ambulance in CA

 

[CFal]

There are many things that medics can do that cardiacs can do but require med control for

 

[dixie_flatline]

In Maryland everything but medic school is subsidized (free), and many volunteer organizations will fund medic school in exchange for X years of active service.

Still basically 0 volunteer medics though. It's just too long to do something for volunteering only, even if it is short compared to PA school or nursing. If you want guaranteed ALS service, you have to pay for it the old (new?) fashioned way, with paid workers.
And unfortunately, since tax money usually doesn't cover it, that means billing for service. I think in a perfect world EMS would be tax funded, perhaps with a small ($100-500) transport fee, but right now we have to make do with what we have.

Agree with you on the one hand, and beg to disagree a bit on the other. My entire paramedic education was covered by my volunteer corporation, and I'm 100% volunteer (with no current plans to change that). I know of 5 other volunteer-only medics in Howard County, and a handful in MoCo. Overall though, volunteer medics are definitely few and far between, and pretty unlikely to pop up in great numbers moving forward.

 

[unleashedfury]

Medic school in NC is subsidized. If you volunteer or work for a service somewhere you'll only pay for insurance and maybe books. Probably <$400 total, including EMT school.

Apparently I'm in the wrong state, I had to pay for everything out of pocket and student loans, However some employers will offer to pay for your education if you sign a deal that gives them 2 - 3 years of full time service, But they only pay for the Paramedic portion of it. So if you pursue the degree option your on your own, They usually pay for the Hospital programs students as its straight up paramedic school, vs a degree.

Benefits of that is a sure spot, and 3 years of experience in the field if you decide to pursue other career options. Downside is in some cases your the lackey, and get all the shifts people don't want,

In PA they upped the price and class time last year. It's a little north of a grand now and the class is longer (it's pretty much national registry).

Jan 2014, they are going to a NREMT-B testing standard,

Kevin I saw the EMS academy price for HACC and you are correct, the Hospital runs one up here its about 800 dollars, But you don't get EVOC, ALS Assist, Vehicle Rescue only meets the criteria to test the NREMT-B.

 

[rescue1]

Agree with you on the one hand, and beg to disagree a bit on the other. My entire paramedic education was covered by my volunteer corporation, and I'm 100% volunteer (with no current plans to change that). I know of 5 other volunteer-only medics in Howard County, and a handful in MoCo. Overall though, volunteer medics are definitely few and far between, and pretty unlikely to pop up in great numbers moving forward.

Yeah, we had three volunteer medics in Kent County on the Shore (two paid elsewhere, one volunteer only) , but it's not enough to base any sort of response order around. All it means is once in a blue moon the county medic unit could get put in service and stay available after a call. There were some in Queen Anne's county too, but again, not enough to change the deployment of paid medics.

 

[Christopher]

Yeah, we had three volunteer medics in Kent County on the Shore (two paid elsewhere, one volunteer only) , but it's not enough to base any sort of response order around. All it means is once in a blue moon the county medic unit could get put in service and stay available after a call. There were some in Queen Anne's county too, but again, not enough to change the deployment of paid medics.

I'm one of five volunteer paramedics at my service, all but one has non-EMS/Fire jobs. The cheap cost of education makes it easier to become a paramedic as a volunteer around here. We're a combination department, and use volunteers interchangeably with career staff to supplement staffing (either more apparatus or better staffed apparatus).

(As a deployment model it doesn't make sense unless you utilized a strong BLS ambulance system and paramedic fly cars. We're too OT, I'm ducking out.)

 

[rescue1]

I'm one of five volunteer paramedics at my service, all but one has non-EMS/Fire jobs. The cheap cost of education makes it easier to become a paramedic as a volunteer around here. We're a combination department, and use volunteers interchangeably with career staff to supplement staffing (either more apparatus or better staffed apparatus).

(As a deployment model it doesn't make sense unless you utilized a strong BLS ambulance system and paramedic fly cars. We're too OT, I'm ducking out.)

Yeah this is probably best saved for another thread. Good on your company for making it work though.

 

[truetiger]

I'm curious as to how much of that $6 billion is spent on unnecessary transfers. We've got a hospital in town that always transfers to its big city sister hospital for non-sense. They transfer things that normal hospitals would just discharge and refer to a specialist. It's to the point where the receiving hospital makes the patient go through the ER as to not tie up their rooms. Patient's are often discharged from the big city ER. Anyone else doing transfers like this?

 

[Kevinf]

Apparently I'm in the wrong state, I had to pay for everything out of pocket and student loans, However some employers will offer to pay for your education if you sign a deal that gives them 2 - 3 years of full time service, But they only pay for the Paramedic portion of it. So if you pursue the degree option your on your own, They usually pay for the Hospital programs students as its straight up paramedic school, vs a degree.

Benefits of that is a sure spot, and 3 years of experience in the field if you decide to pursue other career options. Downside is in some cases your the lackey, and get all the shifts people don't want,



Jan 2014, they are going to a NREMT-B testing standard,

Kevin I saw the EMS academy price for HACC and you are correct, the Hospital runs one up here its about 800 dollars, But you don't get EVOC, ALS Assist, Vehicle Rescue only meets the criteria to test the NREMT-B.

That sounds about right with the following addendum: I was offered an EVOC class after the formal HACC training, and though we had a vehicle rescue planned it never materialized. No ALS assist was mentioned however. So yea, the program could be a bit more thorough

I'm curious as to how much of that $6 billion is spent on unnecessary transfers. We've got a hospital in town that always transfers to its big city sister hospital for non-sense. They transfer things that normal hospitals would just discharge and refer to a specialist. It's to the point where the receiving hospital makes the patient go through the ER as to not tie up their rooms. Patient's are often discharged from the big city ER. Anyone else doing transfers like this?

Once they get artificial kidneys going strong watch half of that 6 billion melt away when the renal rodeo stops. Dozens of patient's from every ECF transported 3 times a week, round trip. That's ~312 transports per year per dialysis patient. Watch the mom n' pop BLS transport services wither and die as well.

 

[Kevinf]

duplicate post