I was also wondering what your thoughts were on the way billing is done in EMS. Whether it is paid medical transport, paid 911 or volunteer 911. The squad I work for is mainly medical transport, and the insurance company that overlooks medicare medicaid reimbursement refuses to cover the cost of equipment on the call unless three vitals are taken for each patient. Although at first this seems like a good guideline to follow especially for unstable patients, majority of out patients are stable, CAOx3 and have less than a 6 minute transport time between facilities from bed to bed aka dialysis appointment, outpatient appointments etc.
This leads to the case of myself or my partner in the back simply waiting outside the destination facility for a few more minutes just to get a legitimate set of vitals and several other emts go as far as to make up a set and move on, since they feel that delaying care is worse for the patient. What do you feel is the solution to such big brother attitudes shown for insurance companies regulating medical transport or inter facility transports. Thanks again for answering my question, it was great to hear both yours and Rons take on the scenario.
BG