By John Davis
The Sarasota Herald Tribune
NORTH PORT, Fla. — Juanita Aupperle had been sick for days last November when North Port Fire Rescue took her to the city’s emergency room on Toledo Blade Boulevard. Aupperle, 60, recovered days later, but only after being admitted to Venice Regional Medical Center.
North Port’s ER, open for less than a year, cannot admit patients, prompting Aupperle’s trip to Venice for care.
The nurse’s aide was surprised in March to receive a bill from North Port for $641.50, the cost of her initial ambulance ride. The family’s medical insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, had not paid the city, saying it would only pay for one ambulance ride in a 24-hour period.
The case has highlighted a quirk stemming from the Sarasota Memorial Health Care System’s stand-alone ER in North Port, which opened last September.
Getting BCBS to overturn the denial has become a crusade for Aupperle’s husband, Leon.
The 62-year-old retiree is outraged at what he sees as an arbitrary decision to pay for one ambulance ride but not a second, especially from a city that does not have a hospital.
“The point is, I want my city to be paid,” he said, noting the slight increase in fire and EMS fees that North Port approved this year.
Since the insurer paid Ambitrans Medical Transport Inc. $400 of the $600-plus for Aupperle’s ride to the hospital in Venice, it refused to pay North Port.
North Port Fire Chief Bill Taaffe said this is the first such case that he has heard of. The department is trying to help the Aupperles work with the insurer.
“All that happened in that case is our bill got there second,” he said.
As a policy, North Port does not aggressively pursue people who do not pay for medical transport, about 30 percent of patients. North Port does not sell the debt to collection agencies or pursue them through civil claims.
North Port’s new ER sees an average of 58 patients a day, and fewer than 10 percent require follow-up care at area hospitals. Most patients are discharged from the new facility in two hours.
North Port ER Administrator David Carter said that the care center is mindful of the added cost a second ambulance ride can mean for patients, and it allows people to take a personal car if they are stable.
“We are trying to be cost-conscious,” he said.
Carter would not speak about Aupperle’s specific case, citing patient confidentiality, but said he was unaware of insurers capping ambulance coverage.
“I would assume I would be covered, so I need to check my insurance,” he said.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield did not return a call seeking comment.
Copyright 2010 Sarasota Herald-Tribune Co.