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EMS & The New Health Care
A question came up as a joke between myself and a friend of mine. In the new government health care system (GHCS) will EMS will become the new "trip to the doctor"? Since GHC will be required and there is a out of pocket cost to the public there will be some that simply cannot afford it or just does not / will not want to participate. Since its been hinted that you could go to jail for not participating does anyone see EMS becomming flodded as a "first contact" agency for the sick and injured? Will people come to us knowing that they can get treated or recieve somewhat of a medical opinion then move on and make their own descision about care options on their own? Another question, If I treat a person that tells me that they are uninsured, will I be required to report it? Does that make me an agent of the government? (if so i wanna be paied) Does revealing that information put me in violation of the HIPPA laws since i'm kinda revealing personal information that is not and does not effect patient care and is not part of the standard of care at my level. It seems to me that if the government makes EMS into a "rat agency" that could make people not to call for help when they really need it. Please dont reply about the politics surrounding this. I like all of you have your opinions about the GHCS but I see it impacting everyone and we need to concentrate on the people we serve, not the politics surrounding it
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Olivia Jones on
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Not sure about where you live Russ but around here people already use EMS as a trip to the doctor. As to the reporting of the uninsured I dont think that we can because of HIPPA.
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Permalink Reply by Reg Mathis on
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Hey Russ,
Like Olivia, in our rural area, we also are often the "trip to the doctor or ER" for our patients. As to the question of reporting an uninsured party, advising a third party or department about the status of a patients insurance does not fall under HIPPA guidelines as it is not a part of their medical records. But that still wouldn't make it right. I, for one, would not(and do not) carry general health coverage as the annual cost of premiums well exceeds the cost of trips to my doctor every year. I do carry catastrophic coverage just so that if I am brought to an ER and need treatment, I can rest easy knowing I'll be seen without any life-threatening delays.
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Permalink Reply by Russ on
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i live in costal Florida (currently oil free, come on down) and i didnt think about the rural medics. i'll bet they will be more immune than urban and yes we get the "have foot pain at 3am" calls too..(laughing with ya)
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thank you for you reply and like Olivai i didnt think about rural medics but i am familliar with their problems not only was in that type of system in my carrear but i have family in a virginia rescue squad that get those type of calls all the time and where they are they are the nearest doctors. they do a fantastic job and are dedicated
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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I think you are reading way too much into things.
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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EMS already is flooded as the "first contact" for a ride to the doctor.
We already treat and transport the uninsured every day.
HIPAA rules won't change under the new health care laws - you still can report patient information to the health care facility to which you transport and to your agency's own billing department.
The only thing that I see changing much for EMS is if the prehospital reimbursement rules change as the new law is implemented in 2014.
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thanks for your input and on the lighter side, the post came up while we were watching TV and the AARP commercial came on where the female motor officer asks the driver for his license, regrestration, insurance and his health care card. We invisioned an episode of cops where people take off on the cops and lead them on a persuit for NOT having health care..."why did you run man? i didnt have health care. Well in addition to the persuit, you will be going in for not haveing health care too". Then we got into the discussion for which i posted the question to the group. i just put it out there because you know how the fire service gets dragged into things. for example, you can leave a baby at any firehouse in florida no questions asked instead of leaving it in a dumpster...we asked how much time must pass in case somebody wants it back? we were told once we have it, its done, besides...thats never gonna hapen....WELL IT DID! it has been my expierence in this business that ANYTHING can happen and usually does. i'm sure we all have "seen some stuff man"
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