Feds say EMSA patients got ‘compromised’ care
The U.S. government is claiming in its ongoing civil fraud case against EMSA and a former contractor that patient care was “compromised” for years for monetary reasons.
EMSA on Friday strongly disputed the claim, saying it was despicable and untrue.
EMSA — whose full name is the Emergency Medical Services Authority — provides ambulance service to more than 1.1 million residents in northeast and central Oklahoma.
“The credible and overwhelming evidence has demonstrated that EMSA always has and always will place patient care as its highest priority,” the public trust said in a statement to The Oklahoman.
The U.S. government in January accused EMSA and its CEO, Stephen Williamson, of accepting millions of dollars in illegal kickbacks from its former contractor Paramedics Plus LLC.
The Texas-based contractor was paid to pro- vide EMSA with drivers, paramedics and emergency medical technicians between 1998 and 2013. The government alleges Paramedics Plus secretly paid the kickbacks to keep the lucrative contracts.
The government is seeking millions of dollars in damages and civil penalties from EMSA in the civil case filed in federal court in Sherman, Texas.
EMSA and the other defendants deny wrongdoing. They contend the money paid back to EMSA was pursuant to a legal “profit cap” arrangement.
The government’s claim about the quality of patient care is in a new legal filing in the case.
Government attorneys allege Paramedics Plus chose to send money back to EMSA rather than spend it on its employees.
“The United States expects testimony in this action to establish that Paramedics Plus suffered debilitating turnover rates among its paramedics and EMTs, which could have been
The high turnover rate ... resulted in overworked health care professionals, negatively affected employee morale and compromised the level of care and services provided.”
U.S. government attorneys, in a court filing
slowed through the payment of higher wages and/or retention bonuses,” the attorneys wrote.
“The high turnover rate ...resulted in overworked health care professionals, negatively affected employee morale and compromised the level of care and services provided,” the attorneys wrote. “Paramedics Plus’s prioritization of rebate payments to EMSA had very real effects on the care provided to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, which is one of the many reasons the United States refuses to pay for services arranged through unlawful inducements.”
In support of the claim, the government attorneys pointed to a 2009 internal email discussing the payment of retention bonuses.
The email states the Paramedics Plus president was against paying retention bonuses because he was “worried that we will not have enough excess profits to make Steve whole,” according to the filing.
The reference to Steve is to Williamson, who retired as EMSA CEO last month.
EMSA on Friday told The Oklahoman that “the subject of employee turnover and retention bonuses, among other types of employee incentives, was widely debated within Paramedics Plus for years and is unrelated to EMSA and this case.”
“Turnover and retention in the EMS field has been a national issue for decades and continues to be an issue still today,” EMSA said.
“To call into question the patient care provided by EMSA’s dedicated and hardworking professionals, who sacrifice so much to perform their duties with the utmost compassion and diligence, is despicable, untrue, and performs no other service than to undermine confidence and create fear among citizens who need us in their most vulnerable moments,” EMSA said.
EMSA said it has a ranking in the top 1 percent of emergency medical services by the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services. It also said an independent Oklahoma oversight entity, the Medical Control Board, has never questioned the quality of care EMSA provides.