Mahoning Valley isn’t sharing fees from 911 calls, Lehighton claims
By Sarah Fulton
The Morning Call (Pa.)
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A regional agency has intervened in a billing dispute between Lehighton and Mahoning Valley ambulance companies, and Mahoning Township supervisors hope to bring both parties together to negotiate an agreement.
The two emergency responders for more than a year have been unable to reach a billing agreement letting them share the proceeds from 911 calls.
John Kloss of the Eastern Pennsylvania Emergency Medical Services Council, which represents 143 ambulance companies in six counties, asked township supervisors Wednesday to intervene in the matter. Supervisors said they would try to bring officials from both companies to the table for discussion.
Kloss said Lehighton Ambulance has not been getting fair payment for many of the calls it jointly answers with Mahoning Valley.
Lehighton Ambulance is an advanced life support provider and responds to the most severe medical emergencies. It’s the only advanced care provider in the area, with outposts in Summit Hill and Penn Forest Township. Lehighton staff are compensated.
Mahoning Valley is a basic life support provider, answering non-emergency calls and jointly responding to major emergencies with Lehighton. The members are volunteers.
Kloss said when both services respond to a call, only one is allowed to bill Medicare for reimbursement. Mahoning Valley has handled the billing but has not given Lehighton Ambulance its fair share, Kloss said.
“Between the two, they should come to a mutually agreed-upon distribution of that fund so that both of the agencies can sustain their operations,” Kloss said.
He said discussions were held between Lehighton and Mahoning Valley officials in October, December and March. Kloss said he thought an agreement was reached and was supposed to be finalized by April 1, but Mahoning Valley officials haven’t signed it.
Kloss declined to go into the details of the agreement at the meeting Wednesday.
“I’m concerned for the community’s sake,” Kloss said. “Without the income, there’s always that risk that these ambulance services are going to get financially strapped and there’s a chance down the road these ambulances are going to get out the door.”
In 2005, a rift developed between Lehighton Ambulance and Palmerton Community Ambulance, a volunteer organization providing basic life support. Palmerton ambulance officials were billing Medicare for reimbursement and not giving Lehighton a share, officials have said.
An agreement was negotiated between the companies.
Kloss said Mahoning Valley is now proposing radical changes to the tentative agreement with Lehighton that would bring in a third ambulance provider from 20 minutes away. Kloss said his organization could not support such a move because it would slow emergency response times.
He declined to identify the third agency.