phragle
12-07-2009, 02:24 AM
I found while researching one of Cat's posts someplace else..( He and several Democrats think a one payer Medicare for all system is what we need) So in Catmando fashion, I feel the need to cut and paste. I watched this first hand working for a private ambulance company in detroit. Well i did work there, they closed up shop and left michigan because they were loosing too much money.
Using the numbers the GAO provided and adding to it the amount of copays not paid ( copay is 20%, being generous I will drop it to 10% assuming that 1/2 the medicare recipients made their copays) You have $25 underpayment plus $41.50 nonepayment The company I was working for was loosing $66.50 per transport an thats not including the cost of having a stocked and staffed ambulance parked somewhere WAITING for the call. Im not sure of the exact **** of rigs as we had several base stations throught the detroit area, but say we had 40 Ambulances in a 24 hour period, each ambulance runs an avg of 8 calls in a 24 hour period, that a loss of $21,280 a day X 365 days a year = $7,767,200
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A long-awaited report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Medicarehttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/2_bing.gif (http://www.emsresponder.com/print/EMS-Magazine/Medicare-Margins/1$6001#) reimbursement for ambulance providers has concluded that the cost of providing care to Medicare patients is more than the reimbursement paid.
Specifically, the GAO found that for the years 2001 to 2004, Medicare payments were on average 6% below the national average cost of providing ambulance services. However, the report also found a wide range in ambulance costs, depending on the location of the ambulance service, the types of calls they ran and whether they were receiving a tax subsidy. The range of actual costs were from a very nominal $99 per transport to a rather extreme $1,218 per trip. Obviously, with the cost numbers varying so greatly, some providers will be making a significant profit at the current Medicare rates, while others will be operating at a loss. For the report, the GAO looked at average costs and reimbursement and found that the average cost of providing ambulance transportation services was $415 per trip.
Underpayments Add Up
The 6% average underpayment may not seem like a large amount, but if you look at it in terms of dollars, for each trip that costs the expected $415 to provide, you are receiving only $390. Every time you transport a Medicare patient, you are basically giving $25 to the Medicare program. The study also found that Medicare patients represent 40% of all ambulance transports; therefore, it does not take long for that $25 to amount to a significant sum of money. Also, the GAO did not take into account the potential for bad debt on the patient's 20% co-pay portion. Rather, it assumes that the full Medicare-allowed amount is paid. Look at your own write-off numbers for Medicare co-pays to determine how much more money you are losing on a Medicare patient. Unless you are getting all of your co-payments, you are losing even more on each transport than the report suggests.
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So if Catmando's buddies get their way, what if you called 911 and nobody came?
This is to no way be construed as an Attack on Cat... it's a discussion on the Dem's plan.
Using the numbers the GAO provided and adding to it the amount of copays not paid ( copay is 20%, being generous I will drop it to 10% assuming that 1/2 the medicare recipients made their copays) You have $25 underpayment plus $41.50 nonepayment The company I was working for was loosing $66.50 per transport an thats not including the cost of having a stocked and staffed ambulance parked somewhere WAITING for the call. Im not sure of the exact **** of rigs as we had several base stations throught the detroit area, but say we had 40 Ambulances in a 24 hour period, each ambulance runs an avg of 8 calls in a 24 hour period, that a loss of $21,280 a day X 365 days a year = $7,767,200
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A long-awaited report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Medicarehttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/2_bing.gif (http://www.emsresponder.com/print/EMS-Magazine/Medicare-Margins/1$6001#) reimbursement for ambulance providers has concluded that the cost of providing care to Medicare patients is more than the reimbursement paid.
Specifically, the GAO found that for the years 2001 to 2004, Medicare payments were on average 6% below the national average cost of providing ambulance services. However, the report also found a wide range in ambulance costs, depending on the location of the ambulance service, the types of calls they ran and whether they were receiving a tax subsidy. The range of actual costs were from a very nominal $99 per transport to a rather extreme $1,218 per trip. Obviously, with the cost numbers varying so greatly, some providers will be making a significant profit at the current Medicare rates, while others will be operating at a loss. For the report, the GAO looked at average costs and reimbursement and found that the average cost of providing ambulance transportation services was $415 per trip.
Underpayments Add Up
The 6% average underpayment may not seem like a large amount, but if you look at it in terms of dollars, for each trip that costs the expected $415 to provide, you are receiving only $390. Every time you transport a Medicare patient, you are basically giving $25 to the Medicare program. The study also found that Medicare patients represent 40% of all ambulance transports; therefore, it does not take long for that $25 to amount to a significant sum of money. Also, the GAO did not take into account the potential for bad debt on the patient's 20% co-pay portion. Rather, it assumes that the full Medicare-allowed amount is paid. Look at your own write-off numbers for Medicare co-pays to determine how much more money you are losing on a Medicare patient. Unless you are getting all of your co-payments, you are losing even more on each transport than the report suggests.
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So if Catmando's buddies get their way, what if you called 911 and nobody came?
This is to no way be construed as an Attack on Cat... it's a discussion on the Dem's plan.