Just Which Is It, Commissioner Fulmer?

Is Lauderdale EMS the best ambulance service for Florence and Lauderdale County? Most efficient and economical? Those with experience in such matters will have to decide that; we do think the contract needs to be bid whenever there's a promising new player in town or if there have been complaints concerning the current ambulance service.

Have there been complaints about Lauderdale EMS? What does Commissioner Rhea Tays Michael Fulmer think? That seems to depend...

Fulmer and Thornton said they have received complaints about slow response time by Lauderdale EMS. Fulmer said she has expressed concerns to Lauderdale EMS officials. Fulmer said the commission would be obligated to look at the possibility if better service can be provided. - From the June 6, 2012 TimesDaily

Lauderdale County Commissioner Rhea Fulmer said...she had some concerns about response time issues with Lauderdale EMS but those have been addressed by Lauderdale EMS Director Bruce Carson. Fulmer asked if the commission was looking at the possibility of rebidding the contract because Shoals Ambulance Service is trying to locate in the area. - From the June 13, 2012 TimesDaily

Fulmer said she doesn’t understand why the county is leaving “good quality” EMS service. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” she said. - From the June 26, 2012 TimesDaily

So what occurred in that seven day period that produced such a 180 degree turn in Ms. Fulmer's thinking? A conversation with the Lauderdale EMS manager? Without similar conversations with those who are not connected to the current ambulance service, we doubt Mrs. Fulmer would get a very unbiased picture of why there's a delay in response time.

Is rebidding because Shoals Ambulance has entered the picture? Certainly. Remember that county commissioners should want the best for their citizens, be it Shoals or Lauderdale EMS. What does it hurt to let Shoals Ambulance tell you what they can do...that is unless your mind is already made up by whatever happened between June 6th and June 13th?

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Some readers have contacted us concerning the high number of patients being transported to Huntsville Hospital by Lauderdale EMS. The ambulance service is affiliated with Keller EMS which is in turn affiliated with Huntsville Hospital. We consulted with a physician who offered this:

This likely has to do with the state plan for handling accidents. Anytime there is a loss of consciousness or a potential for head trauma the EMS must institute the state plan which calls for the patient to be taken to a Level I trauma service. Huntsville is the closest one. Keller does not even participate in the State Emergency Plan, and ECM is a level III because we do not have neurosurgical coverage 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If we did we could qualify for Level I and in the future with a new hospital I look for us to go to a Level II if we can recruit the right people.

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We've been lax in adding to our Shoals Eyesore List. We will have some more entries with revealing photos later this week. If you have a candidate for our list, send it on. There's plenty of competition.



Shoalanda

How Much Money Does Keller EMS Take In (Net)?

 Doug Arnold--He May Need Refresher Course in Accounting

If you haven't kept up with the Colbert E-911 ambulance controversy, here's a quick synopsis. Bryan Gibson has founded Shoals Ambulance Company, an entity the City of Muscle Shoals wants to use as its primary responder within its boundaries. The Colbert E-911 Board says sorry, no can do. They award the service contracts and have awarded the sole contract to Keller EMS. Keller has stated that any competition will cause it to go out of business, having lost 2K already this year according to Keller CEO Doug Arnold. Really?

Let's look at available figures for past years. Keller charges a base rate of $440.00 for a service run. It answered 8K calls during the last year for which statistics are available, for a gross income of $3,520,000.00. This amount doesn't include any non-emergency runs.

How many of these 8K emergency runs did Keller actually receive payment for? A source tells us that 70% is a reasonable figure to use. This rate includes both insurance and private payments. How much does insurance pay? A quick check online shows that insurance reimbursement runs around 80%. Some of the remaining 20% in charges are paid by the individual and some are written off.

Using the above figures, the actual gross income for Keller EMS would have been $1,971,200.00. Using these same figures, we could reasonably assume the gross income for the first quarter of 2012 would have been $492,800.00--at least. From this amount would be subtracted utilities, salaries, fuel, ambulance maintenance, fees, and replacement of used/outdated supplies. How much would the net income for Keller be? Since we have no actual amounts for the above expenses, that would be impossible for us to say. What we do say is, using normal accounting practices that pro-rate depreciation, etc., a gross income of almost 493K (and it's obviously much higher due to non-emergency runs) that results in a 2K net loss seems extremely unusual, particularly for a well established company.

Note: If any of our readers have more accurate figures on actual percentages of fees collected and/or reimbursed, please forward them to us. Many thanks.



Shoalanda

A Colbert Countian on Shoals Ambulance

Shoals' Fleet of Mercedes Ambulances

Should the City of Muscle Shoals be allowed to select which ambulance service acts as first responder within their boundaries, of should the county 911 Board have the final say? The ultimate decision on that question has been postponed until the board hears from the Attorney General's office in Montgomery. Here's a Colbert Countian's take on the current quandary:

The city of Muscle Shoals has the right to use who they want inside the city limits. The owner of the new service is a very nice man from Booneville, Mississippi. He also ran the 2nd largest ambulance service in the nation (Rural/Metro) so he knows what he is doing. If you read the article in the paper you will notice Keller talked about money, money, money. Coming from an old school medic I'm going to tell you it bothers me to see that all Keller is worried about is money. Keller's employees are famous for treating patients and the first responders like garbage. 

Fact: One of Keller's EMTs shoved Spring Valley's elderly fire chief at a wreck. There were witnesses to this and a complaint was filed with with the DA's office. 

Fact: When Keller has come out to calls and refused to replace the volunteer fire department's equipment even though Keller is billing for the call. Competition is good. I believe that Shoals Hospital's new service will make Keller better. The bottom line--Muscle Shoals wants what is best for its citizens and Keller is not what is best.

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The Connection has published the second part in its series on the Muscle Shoals ambulance situation. Every Colbert (and Lauderdale) citizen should be concerned with the current responder plans.

Colbert E-911 Board Removes Its Mask

Shoalanda