3 ms·

Is 911 response REALLY a cost center? Around here, to get an ambulance, it's $500 (IIRC) up front + $16(!!!!!) a mile. And the closest hospital might be 10 or 1

• FireBeyond 14y ago
  911 response, unless ran very well, and / or miserly, is absolutely often a cost center. You have "frequent fliers" who you may see several times a week, without insurance. Billing sends them a bill, but there's no realistic expectation of payment. You can't, even as a private agency (and should 't - for better or worse, I'm a proponent of "socialized" medicine, even in bastardized form) refuse a patient transport, though about the best you can do is advise a patient that their insurance is unlikely to pay if the ambulance transport does not have. "medical necessity", even with (especially with) Medicare (who requires us to get a document from the physician stating the necessity of "transport in a fully equipped BLS/ALS ambulance"). Add to that Maintenance, drug purchase (must be kept stocked and current, even if rarely used), fleet Maintenance (driving code in a truck carrying N extra 10-15000 lb at high speed places a lot of strain on a vehicle), insurance (likelihood of an accident), insurance (malpractice in this area is usually carried by the agency, not individual), regulatory and other costs, costs of maintaining sufficient crews on duty so you can respond even when others are out doing long distance transports (hospitals to nursing homes, home, or stabilized patients to bigger or more appropriate hospitals) or transporting your frequent fliers, and it begins to add up.