Worried? Will Your City, County, Private, EMS Job Survive?

[spenac]

Well... sure maybe. But I see more and more people saying they dont want to go to the hospital because they cant afford it. Or drive themselves to at least avoid one bill. Hell, just yesterday I picked up an elderly man with abdominal pain. We were in the midst of a snow storm that made driving an act of insanity... and they still tried to drive themselves. Finally his wife pulled over and called 9-1-1. Bear in mind also that not everyone has insurance... and not all insurance is accepted. Dont forget to sign off on your paperwork why the patient NEEDED an ambulance. Medicare often wont pay up if your patient walked to the stretcher... but also, if you didnt document that your patient walked to the stretcher then it didnt happen, so howd they get there?

Not all our money comes from one place. Funds from transports may in some companies go back into medical supplies and pay roll... where as funds for new equipment and vehicles may come from fund raisers, taxes... etc.

Sure... I dont think that the EMS system as a whole will suffer from the decline in the economy but surley alot of companies will.

Also medicare and medicaid are tightening the belts and EMS is getting less. Honestly if your patient isn't going to die w/o ambulance transport, odds are w/o fraud your not getting paid.

[spenac]

Hospitals are in trouble, so are we.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/12/27/ap5862170.html[web:59113446fc]http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/12/27/ap5862170.html[/web:59113446fc]

[NoOnesAngel]

Isn't Medicare considering using a grading scale on how hospitals and EMS get paid? They request patients grade their care...and in turn base how much you get paid on what kind of grade you receive?

*

That could be a complete fabrication but I do believe I recall that being tossed around the station and the hospital a month or two ago...

[crotchitymedic1986]

I really don't think that our lovely ems system will suffer from whats going on its a thing called MEDICAL and MEDICARE

I hate to break the news to you, but your state is probably going to be the first one to be hit, if you are in california (medi-cal). California has sunk deep into a spending deficit, and now no longer has the bond rating to be able to borrow money.

Medicare will have to cut benefits, as there is no way to sustain the current system, with current tax revenues, as the baby-boomers start making claims. I think it will hurt the non-emergent companies first, but that means your 911 service will have to do granny-totes.

[Fox800]

Isn't Medicare considering using a grading scale on how hospitals and EMS get paid? They request patients grade their care...and in turn base how much you get paid on what kind of grade you receive?

*

That could be a complete fabrication but I do believe I recall that being tossed around the station and the hospital a month or two ago...

No. This would never work. 100% fail.

[spenac]

No. This would never work. 100% fail.

Why?

[CTXMEDIC]

Because every patient that got served peas and didnt like them could potentially rate you below standard. that would be like a pilots salary being dependant on a 19 year old fry cook that didnt like turbulence.

[spenac]

Because every patient that got served peas and didnt like them could potentially rate you below standard. that would be like a pilots salary being dependant on a 19 year old fry cook that didnt like turbulence.

Well feed back would be great. Perhaps with some checks and balances. But if one Medic always gets negative perhaps theres truth to it.

[crotchitymedic1986]

It doesnt quite work that way, it is a very complicated system of grading that looks at several things (in the hospital, havent heard about applying it to EMS). The hospitals are compared by region, and it does tend to improve hospitals, as none of them want to be in the bottom third. The top hospitals work with the lower scoring hospitals to help them increase their scores, or atleast they did when I was affiliated with the system. They look at everything from stroke / cardiac / pneumonia care, to hospital spread infections, to food quality. Its not just subjective patient grades, it is based on outcomes as well.

I think it would be a good thing if all ambulance services in a particular city or region were graded against each other.

[ericenglund]

I consider 99% of the people I know faaar too ignorant to "grade" a hospital. Myself included. Throw in the bias nonsense like someone mentioned earlier ("My peas were soggy and they didnt tell me what was wrong with my toenail"), and you have a mess.

It'd be like me grading an essay..written in german(I don't speak german.)