Jon A. Edens, MH, EMT-P
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Ron Haussecker (I)
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To whom it may concern, My name is Jon Edens and I am the Director of Operations for Alliance Ambulance, Inc., a private transfer company in Houston. We are in TRAC Q and cover the entire Harris County and surrounding areas The owners of Alliance Ambulance (Jerry Smith and Charles Tatom) have encouraged me to run for the Texas Ambulance Association Board of Directors, so I now present myself for such a position and await your decision on nomination. The Texas Ambulance Association (TAA) has been a strong entity in the EMS field in Texas since 1981, although it seems as though in the past few years they have not been as active or as strong as they have in the past. On many of the email lists people have never heard of TAA, or if they have, they have no idea what it does or how to contact them. I feel this needs to change. I have a strong background in EMS management in both the private sector and in municipal services during my 16-year career. I am also very strong in information retrieval and management, performing such duties for Alliance Ambulance, the NoIFT.com website, and as a business owner for an information brokering and management company. I would enjoy bringing my unique skills and experience to the TAA to assist them in progressing into the future and once again become a loud voice for the ambulance industry in Texas, and possibly in the United States. Jon A. Edens MH EMT-P Quality Assurance & Risk Management jedens@alliance-ambulance.com http://www.alliance-ambulance.com
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Organization: Washington County EMS Position: Washington County EMS Executive Director Type of Service: Third Service - Government County Service Area: Washington County EMS serves all of Washington County as the sole Provider. Trauma Service Area: RAC “N” I’m running for re-election to continue to work with the Legislature, Medicare, Medicaid, State Board of Insurance and TDH in on the financial, rules, reimbursement, and many other issues facing the EMS Industry. The biggest issue facing EMS: There is no one single issue that is the single most important in the current environment the EMS Industry is working in. Some of the most important is Gurney Cars, reimbursement by Medicare /Medicaid, the merging of the BEM into one of 3-4 agencies, shortage of EMS personnel, lack of training programs, and the fact that EMS is dissolving into the name of “saving” the State/Feds Money in return for less health care affordable to the public. The only way to resolve these issues is to work with the Legislature, TDH/BEM Officials, GETAC, and serving on the Rural Task Force, and Interfaculty Task Force appointed by GETAC for TDH/BEM that I’m current serving on. |
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Joe Scialdone
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Brett Coghlan, EMT-P
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Company / Agency... Medix Healthcare, LLC and Ambulance Billing Systems, Inc. Your position with the company / agency... President / President Describe your service... Medix - Ground ambulance service provider in San Antonio. 911 provider to Shavano Park, contracted with numerous SNFs and ambulance provider to the SBC Center for all events over 4000. ABS, Inc - Billing services provider (www.AmbulanceBills.com) to air/ground ambulance companies, exclusively. Chosen as the billing company of choice to the North American Ambulance Alliance. (www.N3A.org) Located in San Antonio; is an active member to the TAA, in addition to the American Ambulance Association, Healthcare Financial Management Association and the Health Care Compliance Association. List the area(s) your company / agency provides service... Medix - San Antonio, previously in Desoto (near Dallas) ABS - National; primary air/ground ambulance clients in TX What Trauma Service Area are you in? Medix - TSA-P (San Antonio) ABS - N/A Why are you running? To give effort back into the industry, in hopes of smoothing the ambulance-issues transition from NHIC to TMHP. To promote communication between the TAA and its eligible entities. I have a marketing list of over 800 Texas EMS providers, and routinely send PRESORT STANDARD mailings to a subset of them. I think the new (up to date) web site will be a great marketing tool to prospective members, when asking them to do their part in keeping the TAA active with TMHP and its ambulance issues. What do you believe is the biggest issue facing the TAA. How do you propose to solve the issue? The state Medicaid transition from NHIC to TMHP. Our Medicaid program is very good when compared to some other states. I would like to pursue TX Medicaid paying second to Commercial Insurance (Humana, Aetna, etc.) Most importantly, I do not want TX Medicaid Providers to lose any more services that they had experienced with NHIC (e.g., Prior Authorization Number issuing unit with NHIC was ambulance specific and now TMHP does not have a separate unit ... the initial impact is that TMHP is not replying to PAN requests via fax. Providers need to call back to see if the request has been approved.) If we build the TAA membership, I think it would be pretty easy to get our members to voice their ambulance specific issues with TMHP ... possibly with a link right from the new TAA web site.
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Company / Agency..Fayette County EMS and Austin County EMS Your position with the company / agency. I am a field supervisor with both counties Fayette County and Austin County Describe your service... Fayette County and Austin County Both do 911 services for the counties and also transfers in the county. List the area(s) your company / agency provides service... Fayette County EMS is in CATRAC I am running for the board, because I am interested in EMS and helping it move forward in Texas. I have been involved in EMS since 1987 for 17 years now. With all the new changes that will affect EMS, I want to be involved and show my concerns in the future of EMS. I have not missed a GETAC or TAA meeting in over a year. Right now the biggest issue facing EMS is two-sided Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement. . I think in order to help solve the reimbursement problem we need to do more education to our staff on documentation, and making sure we get all the proper paperwork to bill the call properly. Presently, there is a shortage of EMS personnel in the state, making it difficult to hire qualified people. As far as shortage of EMS personnel we need to do more out reach programs to the local people by having EMS classes locally to get the local people more involved and hoping they will stay around instead of just coming into small counties and getting some training and moving on to other areas. I am been involved in Washington County United Way serving from board member to president. I was Health and Safety officer for the David Crocket district of Boy scouts for 6 years. I am a founding member of EMSAT and a member of NAEMT.
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Dennis Hebner (I)
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Patrick Vance
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My name is Dennis Hebner and I am running for re-election to the Texas Ambulance Association Board. The election is during our Board meeting at the Annual Conference to be held on South Padre Island the first week of April of this year. I have attempted to serve the membership fairly over the past six years and I have always been grateful to you for sharing your concerns, thoughts and positions with me. As Board members, we are here to serve the membership and I have strived to be fair and impartial to all. The issues that I will continue to work on are: monitoring the reorganization of the Texas Department of Health, the use of nonlicensed vehicles to transport patients, legislative issues, to continue as the liaison between air medical services and the TAA, and the continued low reimbursement rate from Medicaid. This will continue to be a challenging time for the TAA. The legislative session will be surrounded with another predicted budget shortfall and the reorganization of the Texas Department of Health. I would like to use the last eight years of experience of meeting with TDH to the TAA’s advantage. I have participated with the creation of GETAC and presently attend all meetings. I currently am on the TAA Legislative Committee and will be working my fourth legislative session. I am asking for your vote on Thursday, April 1st, 2004 to let me continue to represent your needs as a member of the TAA Board. Company / Agency: South Texas Emergency Care Foundation, Inc. Your position with the company / agency: Director of Support Services Describe your service: 9–MICU ground ambulance, 1-Critical Care Ground Ambulance, 3 fixed wings, and 1-rotor wing service. List the area your company / agency provides service: Ground Services: most of northern Cameron County Rotor wing: Cameron, Hidalgo, Willacy, Kennedy, Starr, and Brooks County Fixed Wing: National and International. What Trauma service area are you in: TSA-V |
My name is Patrick Vance and I am the Managing Partner of MedCare Medical Service. I am writing you to express my interest in a position on The Board of Directors for the Texas Ambulance Association. MedCare Medical is a private ambulance service in North Central Texas. We operate primarily in Dallas and Denton counties. MedCare began in 2001 as a medical company that only did special events. Since that time we have grown to operate 4 MICU Capable ambulances and 1 Wheelchair Van. From our humble beginnings with one employee, we know have over 30 certified personnel on staff. Our service is balanced between ambulance transports and contract event service giving us a well rounded staff with a wide Varity of experience. While I had valuable experience as a field medic, supervisor, and manager, starting a new company with no resources and limited capital was to say the least a challenge. We achieved our expansion and goals through hard work, dedication, and a belief in what we are doing. Almost all of my learning came through on the job training. A great deal of learning came in the area of administration. Many of my resources are with the TAA and AAA. I have been intrigued by the process, at both the State and National Level, of administration and have a strong desire to become a voice in that process. The TAA and its providers have many challenges in the future. The most important of which I fell is ethics of companies in the state. All licensed providers need to be held to a higher level. Questionable practices of companies that do not believe in patient care as the highest priority have left all of us defending ourselves instead of progressing as a profession and an organization. I feel I can contribute to the Texas Ambulance Association. I am also eager to learn more about the process at the State level. If I may answer any questions for you or the members, please do not hesitate to contact me at any time
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Allen Johnson,
EMT-P, MPA |
Tracy Thomas |
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I am writing to express my interest in serving on the Board of the Texas Ambulance Association. For the past five years, I have served as the EMS Director for the Montgomery County Hospital District (MCHD). MCHD is a political subdivision of the State of Texas. Officially charged with providing indigent care in Montgomery County, MCHD has a long history of providing excellent emergency and general transport service for the citizens and visitors of Montgomery County. MCHD currently staffs fourteen 24-hour units, up to four peak units and a paramedic squad. We cover 1,100 square miles and a rapidly growing population of 325,000 people within the geographic boundaries of Montgomery County. Montgomery County is located within TSA Q and is an active participant in the Southeast Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council. I have been actively involved in local and state planning processes such as our RAC, the local Council of Government, and GETAC. Our agency has been a member of TAA for several years and we have reaped many benefits from the participation. I wish to further my involvement within the primary EMS trade organization in Texas. I am very fortunate that my agency recognizes the importance of outside representation and encourages my involvement in organizations such as TAA. I believe there are a variety of pressing issues facing our industry today. Within our own state, we face the uncertainty of the TDH restructuring and the evolving nature of industry regulation. There are competing forces attempting to strengthen or weaken the regulation and it will take strong industry input to find a balanced approach. The industry also faces numerous other challenges including reimbursement issues, staffing shortages, homeland security, and the need to develop skilled leaders to carry us into the future and protect the interest of the various stakeholders – especially the patient. By myself, I can do very little to impact the change. However, I feel I possess the industry knowledge, critical thinking ability, and consensus building skills to help forge solutions. None of these issues will be solved by a single person. I propose to solve the issues by bringing varied opinions and interests together to develop the answers that will allow us to move the industry forward. Best regards, Allen Johnson |
Please accept this letter as written evidence of my growing interest in serving as an active member of the TAA Board of Directors. It is with great pleasure and anticipation that I submit a written request for consideration of a nomination to sit on the Texas Ambulance Association Board of Directors. I understand elections will be held shortly and I wanted to articulate my thoughts and goals of serving. I began my EMS career in 1976 as a volunteer firefighter/EMT through the affiliation of an explorer program. During the last twenty-five years, I have remained in EMS and amassed experiences with volunteer fire departments, paid departments, teaching institutions, private sector EMS and State Advisory boards for EMS and Trauma. Each opportunity helped me to develop a methodology for dealing with the unknown and link it to specific actions that needed to be undertaken. Each helped me become actively curious, able to encourage debate and bring up opposite views and to aid in establishing a culture of social ambience within groups to learn from one another. As I reflect on EMS today, contemplating the evolution of even the last five years, on paradigm is clear – many of the leadership concepts proposed only a few years ago cannot and will not work in today’s environment. People have changed. The business environment has changed. Government has changed. The scarcity of resources has worsened, especially the valuable resource of skilled labor. Attracting, training, motivating, and keeping employees has become much more difficult and much more expensive. It will get much worse in the future. It is crucial the TAA remain abreast and address these changes. It is fundamental that the organization partner with each other, government oversight boards, third-party payors, and lobbyists to name but a few. The personnel that make up the Board of Directors have to evoke an open, honest atmosphere of trust and helpfulness through the sharing of thoughts, ideas and time. These qualities will assure fulfillment of personal, professional and organizational goals. It is my desire that I contribute sensitive, attentive ad responsive listening skills to the membership at large. Having heard the membership, I can contribute to the joint assimilation of ideas and strategies for the future direction of EMS within the State of Texas. I will actively pursue forums/venues to communicate these strategies for success-oriented EMS and Trauma programs. In short, I want to be a part of a group that works to assess and then improve current working situations. I believe collectively we can increase the organization’s productivity and profitability. I look forward to an on-going relationship with TAA. I have both the desire and energy to serve. American Medical Response is supportive of my decision to solicit nomination support for the BOD position and is willing to sponsor my attendance at all necessary functions. Thank you for taking time to read this request. I eagerly await your response and consideration. Respectfully, Tracy A. Thomas |
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Jack Pitcock, EMT-P ent |
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BayStar Ambulance is a private ambulance provider providing non-emergency and emergency transfers but, we do not provide any 911 coverage. I do not know what Trauma Service we are in. I understand that Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement are here to stay. Maybe some future increases may be made but, I believe we must get on line with physicians and Hospitals. Stiff penalties for insurance carriers, which do not pay us within a reasonable amount of time. Penalties such as fines or possible jail time for hospital, nursing homes, hospice and rehab facility, which except contracts below Medicare allowable or receive any time of kick-backs. I, also, feel that a CEO, CFO, CNO or even nursing facility's administrators should loose their certificates if a violation has occurred, such as a discount or receiving kick-backs in their facility. I believe that ambulance contracts should be part of open records and therefore, visible to state agencies other then Medicare, Medicaid or FBI. I understand the cut backs on TDH, but they should have more governing power. I would like to see yearly audits done on my ambulance services as will as every ambulance service. This would be an on site inspection lasting two or five days. This should be published for everyone to see. This type of audit is already being done in nursing homes and hospitals, why not ambulance providers. There inspection should include contracts, truck maintenance, purchases, etc. I also believe that TDH should have the power to remove from service any ambulance, which does not meet strict guidelines. There are several ambulance companies located in Houston, which have ambulance that release exhaust in the patient compartment. I know that my list is strong worded and this is just a short list. But, we have got to catch up with the rest of the healthcare industry. It is a long road traveled but one that will better all of us, when we get their. Charles Bryan
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I’d like to throw my hat into the ring to serve a three-year term on the Board of Directors of the Texas Ambulance Association. I’ve been involved in Emergency Medical Services for the past 27 years, and I’m currently the EMS Division Manager with the City of Baytown Health Department. I’ve held that position for the past 18 years and I’m responsible for all aspects of a municipal emergency medical service provider. In addition, I work as a contract Education Specialist/Consultant with a major billing software firm, conducting on-site training and performance audits of ambulance billing operations around the nation. Baytown Health Department EMS covers an area of about 60 square miles in and around the City of Baytown, which is in Harris County. We provide three paramedic staffed ambulances 24-hours per day and respond to over seven thousand requests for service each year. We are active members of Southeast Texas Trauma Advisory Committee (SETTRAC) or Trauma RAC “Q” and participate in the EMS and System Quality Improvement subcommittees. The reasons that I’m running for the Board can also address the challenges facing the TAA. I want to try to make a difference in Texas EMS. As a profession, we are faced with many new challenges that will affect the delivery of medical transportation in the short-term as well as the distant future. Some of the changes that are taking place with the Texas Department of Health certainly will have an operational as well as a financial impact on all EMS agencies in Texas. In addition, the financial challenges for all providers under the decreasing insurance/Medicare funding system will significantly impact the way our services are funded. Our responsibilities as a Board are two fold. We are to represent our membership at the State level, communicating our concerns and ideas to the elected officials for action. In addition, we are to guide our membership on changes in the profession from rules changes to improving service delivery methods to meet the demands of our customers. I feel that my participation, along with the other Board Members, can continue the work of the Texas Ambulance Association to improve the EMS profession in Texas Respectfully Submitted, Jack Pitcock, EMT-P |