By Suzanne Hoholik
The Columbus Dispatch (Ohio)
Copyright 2006 The Columbus Dispatch
All Rights Reserved
Private ambulance companies say they are sinking in rising fuel costs.
Company officials say they are making changes where they can — adding more planned patient transfers per shift, per crew; keeping track of vehicles so the closest ones can respond to calls; and not letting trucks idle when they’re not in use.
Steve Mattern, a board member of the Ohio Ambulance and Medical Transportation Association, said many companies have already cut billing, dispatch and office staffs.
“The threat is services are at the point that you cut back as much as you can, and there’s only so much you can cut to keep units on the road,” he said.
Ambulances average about 10 miles per gallon on diesel fuel, which has hovered around $2.99 a gallon for a while.
They generally are used to transfer patients from hospitals to nursing homes and to medical appointments.
“We just kind of have to be smart in what we’re doing,” said Gary Cook, vice president of Pickaway Plains Ambulance Service, which is based in Columbus.
“It’s not an option to say ‘I’m sorry’ when you’re dealing with someone’s health.”
Company managers say they can’t increase fees because Medicare and Medicaid do not negotiate on reimbursements. As much as 70 percent of private companies’ business is with Medicare and Medicaid patients.
Medicare, which insures the elderly and disabled, set payments for this year before the most recent surge in fuel prices. Medicaid, the state-run program for the poor, hasn’t raised reimbursement rates in six years, state officials said.
Mattern wants Medicaid to pay more for ambulance service.
“We have to be able to make this up. We can’t be eating up this profit margin,” he said. “Many companies were in the red last year, and this year doesn’t look good for anybody.”
But Jon Allen, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, which runs Medicaid, said there are no plans to increase reimbursements.
In fact, Allen pointed to doctors’ offices and nursing homes that received cuts in recent years.
Ambulance companies say there is little room to shift costs to hospitals and nursing homes, which sign multiyear contracts.
“I only see it getting worse,” said Matt Johnson, general manager at Rural Metro ambulance in Columbus.