Staff shortages creates errors

In February this year, a set of circumstances arose to highlight another, if somewhat unusual issue that can be created without effective communication between Ambulance staff and the Ambulance Billing team and highlights potential flaws in businesses that are “closed loops” with third party Ambulance Billing Services such as ABS Inc.

On 1^st January 2013 a man was experiencing difficulties with his breathing and a 911 call was raised at 1.25am and a fire truck appeared on the scene within 9 minutes but unfortunately there was no ambulance available for an immediate response. The ambulance eventually arrived at the man’s home at 1.58am, some 33 minutes after the 911 call.

Between the time of the initial 911 call and the arrival of the ambulance the man sadly died despite help from the attending fire service that was on hand. The timing of the arrival however is not the issue that is the subject of this article, the subsequent bill for Ambulance Services amounting to $780 that was sent to the man’s address and received by the dead man’s son and the circumstances that led to the bill being issued in the first place.

It transpires that the districts Ambulance Service was staffed at abnormally low levels on the night of the death and in excess of 50 firefighters off work due to sickness. Such low levels will of course place a strain on any system that is in place and this was clearly the case in this instance. However, the billing was avoidable with sufficient numbers of competent ABS billing team members.

Such occurrences are embarrassing and damaging to the image of a business and they can be avoided by employing the services of experts in the field of Ambulance Billing. ABS Inc do not suffer with low staffing levels and provide the expertise, knowledge and efficiency to get your Ambulance Billing correct first time, every time.

Contact us today to see how ABS Inc can improve your Ambulance Billing.