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EMS Management Article

February 24, 2012

FBI raids Texas ambulance company

During the raid agents went into the offices and collected files, photos and equipment

By Alex Hinojosa
El Paso Times

EL PASO, Texas — Investigators conducted a raid at an ambulance company in East Central El Paso in connection with alleged ambulance fraud officials said.

On Thursday officials with the FBI and the Texas State Attorney General's Office inspected the offices of Dominion Ambulance, 6585 Montana.

According to the company's profile Dominion Ambulance is a private company that provides ambulance services.

"We are executing a search warrant only and it is sealed," said FBI Special Agent Michael Martinez.

During the raid agents went into the offices and collected files, photos and equipment. Agents also inspected and photographed the interior of about 10 of the company's ambulances.

FBI officials asked Emergency Medical Technicians to help move the ambulances toward the back of the building for inspection.

Copyright 2012 El Paso Times, a MediaNews Group Newspaper

LexisNexis Copyright © 2012 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.   
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Comments
The comments below are member-generated and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of EMS1.com or its staff.
Travis Muhler Travis Muhler Friday, February 24, 2012 5:57:09 PM What provoked the raid?
Chuck Stolze Chuck Stolze Fri Feb 24 18:06:55 PST 2012 You just can't trust those ambulance drivers!!!!
Debbie Duff Debbie Duff Fri Feb 24 18:45:40 PST 2012 Chuck Stolze I have been a driver for years,never had any problems,never done anything wrong,never had an accident I got my patient and partner to wherever I needed to take them.....so just "why" can't you trust an ambulance driver? Just because one or a few do something wrong or stupid doesn't mean all drivers are untrustworthy!
Carol Jacobs Carol Jacobs Fri Feb 24 18:47:40 PST 2012 Chuck the items they took and photographed have very little to nothing to do with the drivers. It's either a billing issue or a serious management problem. Hope you never have a need for one of those "ambulance drivers".
Debbie Duff Debbie Duff Fri Feb 24 18:53:52 PST 2012 Carol Jacobs I agree Carol,but we don't choose "who" we help! If someone needs help we go no matter what a person thinks.We don't care about the attitudes we care about getting the person or persons to get the medical attention they need! I have also been in the office part as well,but personally had nothing to do with billing I also dispatched and if we felt the need I would get helicopters. I guess you have to be in the medical field to understand how us "drivers" make sure patients get the care the need
Carol Jacobs Carol Jacobs Fri Feb 24 19:14:10 PST 2012 Debbie Duff agree 100% Having been involved with the office and responding parts of EMS.
Thomas Horne Thomas Horne Fri Feb 24 19:48:48 PST 2012 Please don't reject the possibility that he was being sarcastic. We may be taking offense for nothing.
Bill Anderson Bill Anderson Sat Feb 25 01:48:08 PST 2012 Chuck Stolze You can't believe everything Wanda says.
Patrick Patterson Patrick Patterson Sat Feb 25 06:03:46 PST 2012 it seems to me like Chuck was being facetious.
Jeffrey Benson Jeffrey Benson Sat Feb 25 07:05:59 PST 2012 Chuck Stolze Mr. Stolze, I don't know if your comment was made in jest or ignorance. Either way it is disparging to anyone in the EMS profession. Yes profession. We train for our careers for a very long time and must maintain continuing education during our entire career. So to call anyone in this profession an "ambulance driver" is a testimony to your ignorance.
Peter Jubie Peter Jubie Sat Feb 25 21:49:18 PST 2012 Chuck Stolze - ''ambulance driver'' is an insult to the ems profession. it is like calling a nurse a bedpan person, a cop a cop car driver or so on.. time to get with the times.
Deb Hechtel Deb Hechtel Sun Feb 26 16:53:08 PST 2012 Chuck Stolze dislike im one of those ambulance drivers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Deb Hechtel Deb Hechtel Sun Feb 26 22:13:46 PST 2012 Debbie Duff and what would them EMTS do without us?????????????????????
Jeannine Crowfoot-Anglum Jeannine Crowfoot-Anglum Friday, February 24, 2012 6:13:08 PM Actually you cannot trust many of the paid ambulance services, has nothing to do w/the EMT's. EMTs are considered disposable resources by the companies, to be worn, wrung out and put away wet. Some don't even let you call out sick, if you are sick! It's just considered a business to these n**bn**s.
David Doc Krebs David Doc Krebs Friday, February 24, 2012 6:42:22 PM Mr. Stolze, it has nothing to do with "ambulance drivers." The billing department and management are committing Medicare fraud.
Kaylee M. Kennedy Kaylee M. Kennedy Friday, February 24, 2012 6:48:30 PM Ok well, that was not vague at all....lol and the result of this effort was? Or was this article just a tad premature?
Jennifer Lowery Jennifer Lowery Fri Feb 24 20:23:56 PST 2012 Good article kaylee!
Steve Mcdowall Steve Mcdowall Friday, February 24, 2012 6:50:59 PM EMTs or ambulances drivers cannot be blamed for this they all follow orders and jobs are hard to come by
Jennifer Lowery Jennifer Lowery Friday, February 24, 2012 8:19:49 PM Need to.....ummm. .....cough, cough,.....yeah this place.
Steven W. Wilgus Steven W. Wilgus Saturday, February 25, 2012 1:18:45 AM I live in El Paso, and as people have been saying, the rank and file EMT/P's who "man" these rigs are not in the position to bill for services. The people from Dominion I have met there are good folks. Let's wait and see what if anything comes of this investigation.
Bill Anderson Bill Anderson Saturday, February 25, 2012 1:45:30 AM I know a couple in the Dallas area that need raided.
Tom Wright Tom Wright Saturday, February 25, 2012 7:38:36 AM The article called it a "raid". That alone is funny, as it usually takes YEARS to put a case together on fraud. The fraud is generally perpetrated by higher up managment through billing "practices", rather than a typical one-time crime we usually associate FBI raids with. On another comment: I have been an ambulance driver for more than 22 years. I am ALSO a Critical Care Paramedic with some college under my belt. I do not get up set by being called a driver, because we do have to get the bus to the scene and generally ground pounders don't staff well enough to have someone dedicated to just driving. Actually, when you think about it....the driver renders the greatest level of care to the majority of ambulance patients....care and comfort....Peace and patience, brothers and sisters.
Joshua Carbon Joshua Carbon Saturday, February 25, 2012 8:30:34 AM Dominion Ambulance has beenn in texas since I was a kid!
Marc Winburn Marc Winburn Saturday, February 25, 2012 8:56:43 AM Hey Stolze, get off of your high horse. Your prob an overpaid FF anyway, funded by "TAX DOLLARS".
Thomas Horne Thomas Horne Sun Feb 26 18:30:13 PST 2012 So any firefighter that engages in EMS service in addition to their suppression, rescue, special team commitments, hazardous materials mitigation... is overpaid? I see. Now run along and troll someplace else.
Edward Knowles Edward Knowles Saturday, February 25, 2012 9:13:36 AM Ha! I was working when this happened before for an unnamed service that is no longer. Its awkward when it happens but it revolves around billing department and administration, some few select Emts that give in to the strong arm to "adjust" treatment and mileage on the pcr. I have gotten back ones that billing claimed missing filled out just needing my signature. Like full Als work up for an isolated fracture of the radius. People will do anything to make the extra buck.
Robb Duprey Robb Duprey Saturday, February 25, 2012 10:10:01 AM Everybody blames emergency services for upper management decisions so let's try this get rid of all ems and let's see how these complaining people are going to get to the hospital
Torres Jason Sr. Torres Jason Sr. Sunday, February 26, 2012 5:16:44 PM It is my opinion EMT /P are most likely to not be involve in any wrong doing, they get the cal, l go do their job , wait for the next call... now if they are involved in gifting key personnel in some facilities to bribe them to assign certain type of patients to get amb service for their X condition... that my little Adam is another story...
Melissa White Melissa White Monday, February 27, 2012 6:52:30 AM I am a certified ambulance coder and director of billing operations. More than likely this is a billing practice/administrative issue, probably both. The government is very serious about compliance and fraud. That is why it is so important to for all services to have compliance and fraud policies in place and ENFORCED. I tend to believe it is rare when a medic is the actual reason for these types of raids. Medicare fraud is completely unacceptable and needs to be stopped. The services commiting fraud give a bad name to the organizations out there who are actually trying to do some good for their community.
Marc Winburn Marc Winburn Thursday, March 01, 2012 7:15:09 AM Thomas, I appologize for the comment. Just frustrated with the FF's here in Vegas. For years they have been paid a bonus to tx pt's, on top of their salaries. FF's here are some of the highest paid, but they are fighting for more $, although our economy, like the rest of the countries, is struggling. Not to mention that most don't even know how to check manual BP's.
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