By Stan Welch
Anderson County has received two responses to their request for qualifications for consultants to conduct a study designed to provide possible solutions to the problem of continued emergency medical services throughout the county.
County Administrator Rusty Burns told The Journal that The Polaris Group, of Southern Shores, NC, and Fitch and Associates, out of Platte City, MO have both responded and asked for an opportunity to appear before the selection committee to present their qualifications to perform the study.
Burns, who along with special projects director Steve Newton and Emergency Services Director Scott Stoller, will make up the selection committee, is hoping to schedule those presentations in the near future. “We have one firm scheduled to appear next week, and we hope the other firm will be able to meet that schedule also.
The presentations will be open to the public, and Burns said he hopes to see representatives from the various rescue squads, EMS units and medical care providers present for the proposals. The three goals are to select a firm, define the scope of the study, and negotiate a price. The negotiations will occur in private, but Burns said it is important for the various parties involved to receive first person information.
“We want the folks who have been involved in providing these services for so long to be included. Of course the Council will make the final decisions, but we don’t want the squads and other providers to be getting second hand information, also known as rumors; not that Anderson County is bad about spreading rumors,” said Burns, with a straight face.
The committee will present their findings to the full Council, and Burns expects a decision fairly quickly. “These problems are not going away, so we want to get the process started as soon as possible.”
A number of squads and EMS units in the county are struggling financially for a number of reasons. Changes in medicare payments under the Affordable Care Act, or Obama care, has impacted the way in which squads are paid, or not paid, for non-emergent transportation of patients. Non-emergent transports are more profitable since they can be conducted with less fully equipped ambulances, and with less thoroughly trained personnel. Some squads, such as Williamston’s, are suffering from poor management as well. SLED is currently investigating several allegations of misuse of funds within the Williamston unit.
Greg Shore, owner of Medshore, a private ambulance service with locations across the state, is also preparing a presentation. In recent weeks,he has traveled around the county, attempting to rally the troops, so to speak. The push by some Upstate hospitals to take over their county’s ambulance services have caused both controversy and consternation. Shore’s message, according to some who have attended the meetings, is that the squads would fare better if they form a consortium and work together.
Greenville Hospital System’s efforts to assume the ambulance operations in that county have been contested by St. Francis Bon Secours, which has expressed concerns that patients would be transported to Greenville Memorial, perhaps against their wishes. Similar concerns that AnMed would have a similar inside line with local ambulance providers have been expressed by some squads.
Burns stated that Council Chairman Tommy Dunn has made it clear that no outside presentations will be scheduled until the study is completed and the report is published.
