Samaritan Ambulance - SUSPENDED

[Medic496]

Story about Orange County EMS in California suspending the license of Samaritan Ambulance. Company been in business for 2 years. Anyone work there and have insight?


http://www.emsbroadcast.com/2014/06...lifornia-suspended-for-illegal-wrongdoings-2/

 

[AtlasFlyer]

I am pained by the number of grammatical errors in that article. >_<

 

[MedicJon88]

sounds about right

Private ambulance companies with IFT contracts always try, with the fault of the SNFs, sneaking patients to the ER without 911 or ALS activation. The IFT Ambulance companies always admonish BLS providers for activating 911 because they lose out on the funds from the transport. Or management might urge the BLS providers to start loading up the patient so the ALS provider ride along with the IFT ambulance instead of the contracted transport provider such as those in LA County.

In the case sited in the article, the SNF should not have called the IFT provider in the first place- regulatory agencies need to start fining SNFs for delay activation of emergency services. IFT BLS provider should have immediately activated 911 instead of finishing their initial assessment.

 

[NomadicMedic]

The article looks like it was written by a 6th grader. "News articles" of that caliber don't hold much weight.

 

[MrJones]

Weren't there, like, a half-a-thousand links to this 'article' yesterday on various sub-forums?

 

[JPINFV]

I am pained by the number of grammatical errors in that article. >_<

Grammatical errors in that article? Meh. The terrible tone, word choice, and style, however, is a crime against humanity.

 

[Tigger]

That's quite the uh er website...

 

[Underoath87]

Grammatical errors in that article? Meh. The terrible tone, word choice, and style, however, is a crime against humanity.

The entire site appears to have been put together by middle school students. They can't even figure out what tense they want to use.

 

[CentralCalEMT]

That article could be a mad libs. Other than the suspension part, there are probably 50 other SoCal IFT company names you could put in that article other than Samaritan and the story would be just as correct. Most IFT companies do the same things and they just haven't been caught yet.

 

[JPINFV]

Of course the alternative action is just as bad. "So you knew that there was a critical patient at a facility that was requesting your help and you refused to dispatch your emergency vehicle because their emergency wasn't important to you?"

 

[Akulahawk]

Of course the alternative action is just as bad. "So you knew that there was a critical patient at a facility that was requesting your help and you refused to dispatch your emergency vehicle because their emergency wasn't important to you?"

It's really a bad scene all around... from the facility (often) refusing to call 911, to the crews knowing they should call 911, to the companies knowing that 911 should be called and directs their employees not to.

It also might just extend to the EMS culture in the area as well. Some systems explicitly allow BLS to transport any kind of patient as long as the time to reach the ED is equal or less than the time for a 911 unit to arrive at the patient's side. Some do not. A system I "grew up" in was one of those systems that allowed BLS to transport nearly anything, but later changed to a system where your on-scene time to ED arrival time had to be 10 minutes or less for BLS to transport anything to the ED.

That system has had ALS-IFT for several years and many, if not all, of the non-911 providers are ALS providers, so it's now almost a moot point there now as the provider will probably send only the ALS crews to calls that might be more urgent. It still does, however, allow facilities to refuse to call 911...

 

[gonefishing]

LOL! This happens all the time in L.A.! I was talking to a kid last night in an ED who was from AMT (Adult Medical Transport) telling me they get shady calls at snf's and mostly are calls where 911 should have been called. Its time to crack down on these people. Its just like all the joints around that tell the emt's to leave out in run reports that the patient was a walkie talkie that they had some sort of debility so the company could collect that sweet dialysis money. Iron fist bro. Lol :rofl:

 

[Tigger]

LOL! This happens all the time in L.A.! I was talking to a kid last night in an ED who was from AMT (Adult Medical Transport) telling me they get shady calls at snf's and mostly are calls where 911 should have been called. Its time to crack down on these people. Its just like all the joints around that tell the emt's to leave out in run reports that the patient was a walkie talkie that they had some sort of debility so the company could collect that sweet dialysis money. Iron fist bro. Lol :rofl:

Provided that response times are the same, why shouldn't the private ambulance just transport? Meet ALS if necessary or go to the ED if the patient or timeframe does not warrant it.

I went lights and sirens to SNFs all the time when I worked for a private in Boston. If we had a crummy ETA we would tell the SNF to call 911 but usually that was not the case.

 

[firecoins]

I work a private IFT company and handle SNF emergencies primarily. I don't see why a BLS crew could not transport an emergency. They have an ambulance. Arrange for an ALS intercept and go meet them unless the ER is closer.

 

[gonefishing]

Provided that response times are the same. why shouldn't the private ambulance just transport? Meet ALS if necessary or go to the ED if the patient or timeframe does not warrant it.

I went lights and sirens to SNFs all the time when I worked for a private in Boston. If we had a crummy ETA we would tell the SNF to call 911 but usually that was not the case.

I am all for it. In L.A. county how ever your not allowed to. I have transported patients to the nearest ED if under 10 minutes which is allowed and ALS is just too far or response time is not as great. Im even for private medics responding. But in L.A. county that too is a violation. Totally different world in L.A. county where the firemen is god and the emt is a nobody.

 

[gonefishing]

I work a private IFT company and handle SNF emergencies primarily. I don't see why a BLS crew could not transport an emergency. They have an ambulance. Arrange for an ALS intercept and go meet them unless t is closer.

That is allowed in L.A. county and is encouraged. They just seem to not have thought to or done so. I've done it in the past. You show up patients having a heart attack, closest most acceptable recieving is 15 minutes out, you radio dispatch they call fire you meet at the halfway point and transport together. Been there done that.

 

[JPINFV]

I am all for it. In L.A. county how ever your not allowed to. I have transported patients to the nearest ED if under 10 minutes which is allowed and ALS is just too far or response time is not as great. Im even for private medics responding. But in L.A. county that too is a violation. Totally different world in L.A. county where the firemen is god and the emt is a nobody.

It's actually ETA vs ETA, not a strict 10 minute rule regardless of what your company has told you.

 

[gonefishing]

It's actually ETA vs ETA, not a strict 10 minute rule regardless of what your company has told you.

Company never told me nothing. Miscommunication between us and when in doubt or a nurse gives you heat you can look at a policy I so happen to have on my phone.[emoji1]

 

[JPINFV]

Company never told me nothing. Miscommunication between us and when in doubt or a nurse gives you heat you can look at a policy I so happen to have on my phone.[emoji1]

You quoted a 10 minute mark... Where's that 10 minutes mentioned? Again... it's ETA vs ETA. If you're on the 2nd or 3rd floor of a building and the fire department is across the street, then their ETA is lower than your ETA to the hospital. Your ETA begins when you determine a need for ALS. If you haven't packaged the patient, then you have to include that time into your ETA.

 

[gonefishing]

You quoted a 10 minute mark... Where's that 10 minutes mentioned? Again... it's ETA vs ETA. If you're on the 2nd or 3rd floor of a building and the fire department is across the street, then their ETA is lower than your ETA to the hospital. You're ETA begins when you determine a need for ALS. If you haven't packaged the patient, then you have to include that time into your ETA.

Yes I did but did not structure the sentence correctly but giving a simple example. Example in one of my post the explanation of a ALS randevu.

Im not arguing against any of your points.lol. I even posted the LA county policy......... Can I be allowed on simple mistake?