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Officials concerned for ambulance services
The concerns have risen to the point that the Jets and LifeLine owners have met with county and municipal officials in order to come up with solutions to the financial difficulties they are facing. The fate of the Emergystat ambulance service in Mississippi provided the catalyst for the discussions. With little warning, the company closed its operations in 23 Mississippi counties on Jan. 23. Facing millions of dollars of debt, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October. The unexpected closure left many in Mississippi scrambling to find ways to continue ambulance service. The owners of the two services have agreed with each other not to make any public statements until some sort of agreement is ironed out. But Thomasville mayor Sheldon Day reported on the situation to the city council, stating that the ambulance services were in financial distress. Thomasville Healthcare Authority member Angie Wise said she felt the situation was at a critical point. EMA director Roy Waite, who facilitated the recent dis- cussions, said he was working with the services to come up with a way that could allow both to survive. "Having been a medic for 23 years, I know collections is a huge issue for ambulance services," he said. "With a rural county like us, you're going to have non-payers and that's going to put a strain on our services." Both ambulance services are privately operated business and at present, receive no taxpayer support. Wise said the non-payment rates for some services rise as high as 90 percent. Compounding the problem is a delay in Medicaid payments starting in October 2007 as the organization underwent changes in some of its policies. The first checks catching up from that delay started arriving last week to some providers. Ann Thompson, CEO of Southwest Alabama Medical Center said the delayed payments have put a squeeze on the hospital and doctors offices as well. While few details have emerged of the discussions, Waite said the first option is to find ways to help the services without public funding. One option being discussed would be to split the county into north and south portions with Thomasville-based LifeLine operating in the north and Jackson-based Jets operating in the south. "The aim would be to reduce their costs and improve response time," Waite said. While it's a step, some officials fear whatever agreement comes out may not be enough and some public money may have to come into play. The Thomasville city council approved amending its budget to put $25,000 back into the Thomasville Healthcare Authority. That money may be made available to one of the services. Day said if the city spent $25,000 to help keep ambulance service in town, it would be money well spent. However, Day said he would not be in favor of the money going towards more competition between the two businesses. While public funding may be made available to help the services, Day was adamant that a completely publicly funded ambulance service is not something the county's governments should consider. Day estimated a count operated ambulance service could easily swamp the county's budget.
Another meeting was scheduled for Wednesday and it is expected that some agreements will be reached to strengthen both services.
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