Associated Press
Copyright 2008 Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi health officials hoped to come with a plan Thursday to restore ambulance service in 23 counties left hanging when Alabama-based Emergystat shut down.

Emergystat, based in Vernon, Ala., notified Mississippi officials late Wednesday that it had halted operations. The company said it had lost its liability insurance and no longer could transport patients.

State Health Officer Ed Thompson huddled with his staff Thursday to come up with a plan to help those counties without service. Emergystat was the sole ambulance provider in the counties.

The Mississippi counties affected were Amite, Coahoma, Chickasaw, Claiborne, Greene, Holmes, Jefferson, Kemper, Marshall, Neshoba, Newton, Noxubee, Panola, Pearl River, Scott, Simpson, Smith, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tunica, Wilkinson, Winston and Yazoo.

Mississippi was not the only state affected by the shutdown. Emergystat's operations in Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia, Louisiana, Kansas and Florida also ceased at midnight Wednesday, according to the company.

Emergystat Vice President Chris Ingram said the company lost its liability insurance because it had not paid its latest insurance premium.

Ingram said the company has not been able to pay because Medicare has yet to reimburse more than $250,000 for ambulance services owed to Emergystat. He said it may take several days before they receive their money from Medicare.

Many counties were given less than eight hours to devise an alternative medical response plan.

"At 5 p.m., Emergystat contacted our county administrator and told him they lost their liability insurance and won't be able to respond," Simpson County Board of Supervisors President Pete Lowery said Wednesday night.

"The county administrator contacted me, and the vice chairman of the board and I declared a state of the emergency for the county," Lowery said.