Advanced ambulance anticipated soon

— Having an advanced life support ambulance in the rural area of northeast Benton county area is one step closer to reality.

Leaders of the Northeast Benton County Volunteer Fire Department met last week with members of the VAS Ambulance Service Corporation at the VAS board meeting and named NEBCO Fire Chief Rob Taylor chief operating officer for VAS for the transitional contract period.

This week, NEBCO board members approved Cris Jones to handle the payroll for VASpersonnel.

Taylor hired 19 paramedics and has a paramedic and an emergency medical technician on staff at all times.

Living quarters are being constructed in Station No. 1 for the emergency personnel, who work 24-hour shifts.

“All the ALS supplies are ordered and in except the drugs, which we can not get until we get the DEA number,” Taylor said.

“We’re just waiting for the DEA number so we can order the drugs,” Taylor said, referring to an authorizing number from the Drug Enforcement Administration, a component of the U.S.

Department of Justice.

Taylor said he hopes to have everything in place by the end of the month so the license renewal can be for an ALS ambulance instead of a BLS. The license from the Arkansas Department of Health is renewed annually is is due by July 1.

Board members also addressed billing concerns. Over the two decades VAS has been in service, billing has varied. According to some board members, residents of the area believe that members (landowners who pay $40 annually) do not have to pay the costs above what insurance pays.

Mary Cooper, owner of TrinityBilling, was hired last year to bill for VAS. She explained the billing to NEBCO board members Monday night.

During the months of discussion between VAS and NEBCO, billing has been discussed, but representatives from Trinity Billing said not billing the customers would be insurance fraud.

“I’ve been in touch with Medicaid, Medicare and Blue cross.

You are obligated to send at least one bill to the patient. What you do after that, is your business,” Cooper said, explaining that to not bill the patients because they are members would result in insurance fraud because the insurance company credits them for deductibles.

She also said that the decision must be one consistently enforced - for persons passing through the area, as well as for members.

Praising the work of Trinity, VAS board chairman Dorothy Williams said: “They do a good job.”

“I just want to make sure what we’re doing is right, that there’s no insurance fraud of any kind,” Taylor said.

Cooper explained that there is a difference in governmentinsurance and private insurance.

She also encouraged NEBCO board members to prepare for the transition by filling out the necessary paper work for all the insurance providers.

Because of the proximity to Missouri and Oklahoma, she said they should also become licensed with both states’ Medicare programs.

Reporting on the initialstages of the transition, Taylor said: “We do have the ambulance up and running. We have a paramedic and EMT as of June 1 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They’ve been fairly busy lately. They’ve had 216 runs this year.

Taylor said everything was being paid for by a grant from the state health department and he is looking for a grant to purchase a new ambulance.

News, Pages 1 on 06/16/2010