A Short EMS Story
I remember working for a private ambulance company who was contracted with the LA County Fire Department. During our orientation, they gave us some kind of statistics. It went along the lines of this
About 23% of ambulance rides are paid…
I wasn’t sure if this was a tactic to explain why we got paid minimum wage for our work or it was the truth. But, you could feel the truth in it.
Because when it comes medical billing, you cannot just give pain medication to every patient that requests it. We are equipped for life-threatening emergencies! So if a patient requests and ambulance with a non-life threatening emergency, could possibly be comfort oxygen. At that point what do we even bill the patient? Therapy? Life Coaching? Uber & Gas?
Of course, the EMT on scene or Medic would be charge of triage, and there are times we deny patients. However, there is a clear difference between each provider on their strictness on denying and accepting calls.
Yet, has there been a moment where we took a patient in a non-threatening situation with a turnaround? Absolutely! I remember my patients who complain about 10 out of 10 pain. I take it very serious, and sometimes, it may sound absolutely ridiculous. But I have seen patients faint or have a stroke from it. On these moments, this is when I feel like we have truly saved a life because they are immediately going to the hospital within the two hour window of life-saving treatment.
I am not saying you should get an ambulance for everything. Including, I got more calls that were casual than endangering. One time, we took a patient into the hospital, and he poured water into the urine test. Now, we cannot confirm if that’s true, but after he gave the ER the urine sample, he walked out of the ER, and we never saw him again. I do not really know why he faked his trip to the ambulance. Homeless people want a bed and free sandwich, but he did not seem homeless.
This field can be unpredictable.
