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December 4, 2010 in City
AMR settles billing lawsuit
Ambulance company to pay nearly $1 million
American Medical Response, Spokane’s ambulance service provider, agreed to pay back just under $1 million, plus interest, received as a result of overbilling more than 12,000 Spokane residents over six years.
“We are pleased with the result for the citizens,” said attorney John Giesa, who represented clients in a class-action lawsuit initially brought by Lori Davis-Bailey, Lorraine and Doug Bacon and Tony Bamonte.
The settlement was reached in September just as the parties were starting jury selection for a trial that was expected to last more than two weeks. As part of the settlement signed Friday by Superior Court Judge Jerome Leveque, Giesa and his firm will receive $945,000 in attorney fees.
Under the agreement, signed by Seattle attorney Paul Dayton, AMR will be responsible for paying back $994,000 to cover the overbilled charges, plus interest, Giesa said.
Since 1999, American Medical Response has had an exclusive contract to provide ambulance service in the city of Spokane. Because city taxpayers fund Spokane Fire Department emergency medical services, city residents can be charged certain rates only if a fire paramedic accompanies the ambulance crew to a hospital.
At the core of the lawsuit was how AMR billed city residents who called 911 for emergency services. In many cases, AMR charged those customers under the more expensive “advanced life support” rate when they should have been charged the cheaper “basic life support” rate if a city fire paramedic was involved in the ride-in treatment.
When city officials first learned of the overbilling, AMR volunteered to refund $320,689.
Some of those refunds went to insurance companies and Medicare, which paid a portion of the bills resulting from the ambulance rides.
“AMR alleged in response that any claims arising under its contracts with the City of Spokane had been resolved through refunds directed by the City of Spokane and denied any liability to Plaintiffs under these contracts,” the agreement reads.
The new refunds cover – with interest – the portion of the bills individuals paid over and above the insurance and Medicare payments, Giesa said. Also, if the bills went to collections, the amounts owed to collection agencies will be reduced by the amount of the award.
As part of the agreement, any refunds to people who have died or who don’t collect the settlement money will go to the Spokane EMS Fund, which helps pay for emergency response.
“That way, city residents will benefit from any amounts that remain unclaimed,” Giesa said.
The city renewed the contract with AMR in 2008 despite the history of overbilling. Former mayor Dennis Hession fined AMR $80,000 but could have levied a heftier fine. Current Mayor Mary Verner questioned at the time whether Hession was too lenient.
AMR representatives previously have said that they changed their billing procedures to prevent future overbilling.
Closing Geiger: Wise or worrisome? 
liarsinnews on December 04 at 9:03 a.m.
How about a investigation of Fire Chief Bobby Williams? Williams should have been fired years ago. Seems to me, the Spokesman needs to explain to their subscribers and the taxpayers, his roll in the AMR billing.
Ron_the_Cop on December 04 at 4:38 p.m.
Mr. Adams,
You jest! This is Spokane what do you expect? Have your cake and eat it too! This is like expecting a basic svs like snow removal in a CITY where it’s KNOWN TO SNOW before it turns to ice.
Ron_the_Cop on December 04 at 7:54 p.m.
BTW folks should read Tim Connor’s comments on this at the Center for Justice:
Scandal on Wheels
Published on December 4, 2010
AMR to pay nearly $2 million to settle class-action claims.
http://cforjustice.org/2010/12/04/scandal-on-wheels/
Ron_the_Cop on December 06 at 11:02 a.m.
Retired SFD Lt. Bill Jackman has these further comments on the AMR billing fraud. Bill Jackman is the one who first broke this case and the involvement of City staff. Lt. Jackman took heat from the City Admin for doing so too.
From: Bill Jackman <billj@webband.com>
Date: Sun, Dec 5, 2010 at 9:03 AM
Subject: Scandal on Wheels | Center for Justice
http://cforjustice.org/2010/12/04/scandal-on-wheels/
The coverage by the Spokesman Review on the AMR settlement was at best woefully inadequate.
There is much more to this story and it involves fire and fraud in Spokane. Please consider reporting the rest of the story to include:
* The recent out of court settlement clearly proves that this billing fraud was much larger was previously admitted by city officials.
* The SFD only had AMR stop the overbilling when they were under investigation by the Washington State Auditor.
* The excuse given in March 2006 that the overbilling started on 1/1/03 was later proven to be a deliberate deception,as court records revealed it had started much earlier.
* The alledged refund in 2006 of $320k was never verified by the City of Spokane to have actually been made. There was never an actual audit, just an agreed upon procedures report that wasn’t even dated. Therefore, the paltry penalty of $81k was based on false assumptions.
* There were critical records deliberately destroyed by the SFD as it relates to this public safety scandal.
* Earlier this year, the Verner Admiistration hired Richard Kness, the former Medical Services Officer of the SFD as a $60.00/hr contractor. He was given a golden parachute job after his retirement to continue monitoring the AMR contract. Kness was the same person who was doing an inadequate job of monitoring the AMR contract as determined by the Washington State Auditor.
* The Verner Administration has ignored the intent of the City Ethics Code by hiring Kness. As Kness was a former member of SAFO, whose labor contract included every part of the City’s ethics policy except the revolving door provision.
* The Hession and Verner Administrations had in fact, ignored every opportunity to levy a proper fine against AMR that may be in excess four million dollars. Instead, all the players have been retained that have done everything in their power to dismiss, filter and marginalize this scandal.
The public has the right to know the truth.
Bill Jackman