Wednesday, October 06, 2010
State to examine billing records of other ambulance services
State to examine billing records of other ambulance services
This is Iowa but I wonder if it is also happening here in Illinois. Sounds a bit familiar.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
PVAS was forced to pay back about $15,000 after an audit by state authorities about ten or twelve years ago for similar overbilling practices. The situation was kept very quiet at the time by the city and ambulance officials. Well, they were the same people. The Peoria Journal Star (Phil Luciana) did a story about it at the time. The investigator in charge of the audit reported in her notes that the extent of the overbilling was "egregious" enough to qualify the Peru Volunteer Ambulance Service to have it's licence to operate revoked by the state. Don Baker and the former ambulance director Mr. Foster were interviewed by the auditors and both stated they could not explain how the overbilling had occurred. I can just picture Don shrugging his shoulders while pleading "ignorant". The state warned them to "stop it" and made them refund the money. I wonder how PVAS billing records would stand up to an in-depth audit today. The sad reality is the State of Illinois is too broke and under-staffed to pursue as many investigations as they probably should and there are probably a great many "questionable billing activities" going unnoticed by the state officials charged to oversee the ambulance industry.
Why are they called Peru Volunteer Ambulance service. I thought they were a private company.
I think they started as a volunteer service. They are now incorporated as a non-profit. Funny thing is.. IRS PUB 78 says donations are only 50% deductable.
Also - readers please note: I am not related to the Mr. Foster associated with PVAS.
Post a Comment