A Brief Back and Forth between ECEMS and Lifeguard gets Quashed Fast....

There were some rumblings back and forth between Lifeguard Ambulance Services of Santa Rosa County and Escambia County EMS over the last several weeks.

This comes on the heels of some reported attempts by Lifeguard to poach some paramedics away from Escambia County with the promise of higher pay--even after Escambia County fronted the money for these particular paramedics to further their professional education. 

So this recent dust-up started after an email was sent to Escambia County earlier this month by an attorney represening Lifeguard.  The email expressed concern about Lifeguard's continuing ability to provide for patient transfers in Escambia County.  I'm told this patient transfer work is a very lucrative aspect of their (Lifeguard's) business model, apparently, and Escambia EMS is taking on a greater and greater proportion of such transfers within the county in order to generate the revenue necessary for Escambia EMS to continue to honor our higher wages and recruitment bonuses.  The additional revenue is also being used by ECEMS for the purchase of new equipment and for some future growth.

But our revenue generation has apparently hit Lifeguard in the pocket book.  

I've even recently heard a rumor that this revenue hit is being described to some Lifeguard employess by management at Lifeguard as "potentially compromising their ability to continue to meet payroll for new hires."  That is something I have heard, secondhand, so it is just hearsay.

Meanwhile, what is known for certain and what is NOT hearsay is that Lifeguard's operations in Escambia County are controlled by Escambia County. (i.e. they work under a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (COPCN) that is issued by Escambia County and which stipulates what activities, within Escambia County, Lifeguard can engage in--including patient transfers, regardless of any contractual arrangements Lifeguard may have currently with facilities based in Escambia County)

So we will see what happens next, but as Escambia EMS takes on more and more patient transfers within the county this will generate more revenue for Escambia public safety programs going forward (more staff, better pay, and better equipment)--and this is a good thing!

 

County Medical Director: County Going in New Direction

Public Safety Director Eric Gilmore discussed this briefly at Commissioner Barry's Town Hall meeting last night, a new direction and approach for EMS and the Medical Director position.  According to Gilmore, the County will have access to three (3) Doctors under the new plan--and the contract for us to begin utilizing this university-based training hospital medical staff on a contract basis apparently will be on the BCC agenda for Thursday, July 8th.

Meanwhile, this email, below, has gone out yesterday to staff in EMS.

Looks as though the county is going in a new direction with respect to how we handle the Medical Director position.

This is a good thing.  And a long time coming.

Who Leaked the Document?

A leaked memo was purposely given to the Pensacola News Journal a little over one week ago.  When I was called and asked about it, I told reporter Jim Little in no uncertain terms, that this was spillage--and he had a confidential memo that was not supposed to be released.   I told Jim I would not comment on the specifics of that memo because to do so would be inappropriate.

Unfortunately, the PNJ built a story around some of the classified information contained in that confidential memo only, disregarded and DID NOT publish information from a filed complaint in the circuit court that disputes much of the information in the leaked document, and then published that story in Friday's edition of the PNJ.  Again, this information is only part of the story and paints several circumstances in a false light and appears to be extremely reckless and recklessly disregards the truth and facts of the issue in my opinion.

I spoke to Jim Little personally Thursday afternoon about the story, which by then was advance posted on PNJ's electronic edition.  I asked him point blank--where did you get this document Jim?  "I can't tell you."  He continued: "The person who I got this from has asked to remain anonymous---and for what it's worth--it wasn't the Medical Director"

Not surprisingly, Matt Selover--an Escambia County employee who was unflatteringly portrayed in PNJ's Friday story--is now filing a union grievance and requesting a formal investigation by the county about who it was that leaked that document.  I don't blame him at all, I would do the very same thing if I were him.  Now everyone, myself included, wants to know one thing:  Who Leaked the Document?

The Urgency of our Billing Issues in EMS--Put into Stark Terms

As EMS reserve funds dwindle, the need to get our billing on track quickly takes on a greater urgency according to a memo from our Clerk of the Court and Comptroller Pam Childers

Thursday of this week we will vote to either bring aboard some temporary staff members or we will bring in an outside entity to help us get caught up on a nearly $9.6 Million dollar backlog of billing for accounts receivable in the EMS department.

At our last meeting when we discussed this subject (May 9th Committee of the whole)--I was under the impression that we would have this billing all caught up by the end of June--and by the end of the FY our collections from this billing would bring our revenue back in line with projections.

But then we received a concerning memo from our Clerk of the Court and Comptroller Pam Childers late last week.  From her memo to the Board:

"March 2019 the mid-year fund audit performed by Clerk staff, found that the billing was substantially behind by $9.6M. Recent inquiry indicated that November 24, 2018 to Current still needed to be coded/billed. Per conversations with EMS staff; Tamika Williams; billing was expected to be current by June 2019; however transitioning billing between two software systems caused further delay.  By mid-May 2019 the EMS cash has decreased to $1.3M. If this decline continues, EMS may temporarily require a solution to fund operations.

EMS billing has gone from 4 months behind to 6 months behind since September 2018.  The urgency to have billing current at September 30, 2019 is crucial.  Delayed billing has a negative impact on cash and collections, creating cash flow issues, loss of interest revenue, creating a material deficiency in operations and will delay the required financial audit.  Current staffing levels appear unable to catch up the backlog." 

We have got to get a handle on this ASAP.  At this point, I believe we must bring in outside contractors knowledgeable in this field, to get our billing and collections back on track.

further in her memo-the comptroller puts the danger of inaction or a slow response to this issue in

What is the Scope of Work (SOW) for the EMT/EMS Training Procurement?

The first draft of a Scope of Work (SOW) for the solicitation for EMS/EMT hands-on skills training has been completed and circulated to the board.  If all goes well, the training illustrated in the images below will be put out to bid this coming Wednesday, and we will open responsive bids on June 5th.

If any revisions are made to this SOW, I will post them here.  Meanwhile, this 5-page SOW is what is being put out:

Latest EMS Inspection in Late July 2018--Excellent Rating

Below are the documents from the last random EMS inspection by the State of Florida, from July 31, 2018...

Escambia County's Mission is not a "Failure"

Watch the 30 second clip above to see my opinion on ANYONE that says our employees are a "failure" or that our mission is a "failure"

We had one heck of a Committee of the Whole on Thursday.  And we have been through a rough patch lately--I'll concede as much.

But there are also competing and diametrically opposed claims as it pertains to the EMS kerfuffle that is being sensationalized right now in the media-------and we can't talk about the other side of the coin legally.  This is incredibly frustrating but we are constrained from saying what we know so I won't say anything other than this:  Wait for all the facts to come out!!!

Yes, there were some issues, yes there are some issues----and these issues are being investigated and when the investigation is completed the BCC will take action and we will address the real problems that are confirmed.

Meanwhile--multiple issues are being dragged in, other issues are being conflated to include issues being investigated, and the most disappointing thing about all of this is the way it is being weaponized politically with leaks here and leaks there to keep the chaos and salaciousness factor high for the local press and TV station.

And to top it off we have folks in leadership saying the "mission is a failure" or "this is why we fail"

I'm done with folks kicking every rule-following, law-abiding employee of Escambia County in the  teeth with their inaccurate, in-artful, un-truthful characterization.

Here is the FACT:        The VAST majority of our employees are coming to work every day, doing their jobs professionally, and are innocent of any wrong-doing whatsoever.  Code enforcement, Solid waste, parks and rec, Animal Services, permitting, admin staff, etc. etc. and the list is long.

But now gasoline is being poured all over EVERY employee of the county by those who speak before