Unconventional EMS-abuse solution

[Dustdevil]

If you have adequately educated and experienced providers in your organisation, it is a fully plausible proposition. Problem is, there are damn few EMS agencies in this country that do. And one bad apple spoils the whole bunch.

[air.stump]

EMS and ER's have become societies safety net for medical issues. For years, private companies have allowed ambulances to be used for transporting patients to doctors appointments and dialysis visits because the money was there. Only recently, when the insurance companies began to cut and deny fees for these transports, have wheel chair vans and non medical transport sprung up to fill the void. But that doesn't cover the frequent flyers...... They know they have a ride regardless, for whatever reason because 911 can't say no.

AND thanks to EMTLA, when an ambulance transports a patient to a hospital, they have to see him regardless of the complaint. An interesting side note is that EMTLA covers a hospitals duty to evaluate and stabilize a patient but only makes provision for ambulances if they belong to the hospital, interesting. Could better refusal protocols be the answer to frequent flyers? I am glad to say that that one is above my pay grade.

The future is bleak for this type of abuse also. I think the next presidental election will bring us a president that socializes medicine to some degree. Ask the many Canadians on this forum about socialized medicine, listen to them and hear some of their stories.

[Just Plain Ruff]

ok, here is a solution

you transport everyone but if they are abusers of the EMS system then you just garnish their wages to recoup some of the cost of the abuse.

If they don't work and they are on welfare then you take a certain percentage of their welfare check.

When it comes to EMS I don't think universal healthcare is a bad idea. Everyone is covered. Unfortunately universal healthcare overall is a terrible idea.

[fireflymedic]

First off, hey dust, long time no talk ! Hope you been doin okay.

Now for the issue at hand, we have the duty to treat people no matter what, how little we think they deserve it, or how much they abuse the system. If you don't like that, find a new profession. McDonalds is hiring at 8 bucks an hour here, higher than the majority of EMS services for basics and all you have to do is ask do you want fries with that? That patient that calls you every saturday at three am for the "I don't feel well" little ole lady needs some service of yours. Now yes, it diverts services away from true emergencies, but that one day when you don't take her seriously is the day it will kick you in the arse. It almost has me, and I'm sure many others. Just ask the ones of us that have been in it very long. I work in a service where precious resources are stretched very thin and sometimes we have hold times for response because we and the surrounding counties can't get free due to all the dialysis transports and "b.s." runs. However, I'm not gonna be the one to loose my cert because I didn't do my job. Yeah, I don't like three am wake up calls, but I like being without a job and homeless even less !