LACEY – Lanoka Harbor Emergency Medical Services is facing a big fine from the New Jersey Department of Health Emergency Medical Service, which alleges the ambulance service violated state regulations by understaffing emergency crews and using unlicensed vehicles during first aid calls.
The squad was fined $617,000 fine by the DOH alleging it failed to staff its ambulances properly during responses. Another issue that resulted in fines were multiple cases of uncertified vehicle use by the State’s Office of Emergency Medical Services.
Documentation from June 1, 2018 to June 1, 2019 states the LHEMS had an “insufficient crew” on 541 out of 705 calls and staffed ambulances with no certified crew members on 264 calls. Four unlicensed state vehicles were used for responses on 102 instances.
LHEMS was fined $1,000 by the DOH for each violation and that same amount each day for times an unlicensed vehicle was used on a call. LHEMS is questioning some of the details of a letter it received on Jan. 31from the DOH which outlined the violations that the agency feels has penalized them unjustly.
Members of LHEMS continue to provide emergency response service and they are planning to appeal the fines. The squad is separated into two divisions, one which is licensed and able to bill medical insurance and another which is unlicensed that is not permitted to bill insurance.
LHEMS, formerly known as Lanoka Harbor First Aid is an all-volunteer service that has been serving Lacey residnets since 1979 according to a letter sent by Justin Meehan, the chief of EMS, LHEMS to Jersey Shore Online.com
Two years ago, LHEMS decided to start billing insurance companies. Medicare, and Medicaid for the ambulance services had previously been done for free. If the patient has coverage, the insurance company pays for part of LHEMS services which previously had been subsidized by donations and taxes.
In order for LHEMS to get paid, it had to get licensed by the NJDOH. Members of the LHEMS noted the expense of ambulances, equipment and training and its need to assist the township in funding its expenses.
Meehan stated that not all members were emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and LHEMS could not meet the requirement for licensed agencies (which must have two EMTs on every ambulance) for every time someone called 9-1-1.
Before it had become a licensed LHEMS required only one EMT and one driver with a CPR certification and basic first aid qualifications to respond to a first aid call. When LHEMS asked regulators, what do in that situation, “we were advised to keep one ambulance unlicensed which would allow it to be staffed by just one EMT without violating the two EMT requirement on the licensed ambulance,” Meehan said.
For nearly 40 years when two EMTs were not available, one EMT and one driver with a CPR certification and basic first aid answered the call for service and the policy was reviewed and approved by the DOH office of EMS according to Meehan.
The LHEMS was notified on June 20, 2019 by the NJDOH of EMS that a complaint had been filed against it alleging that it was operating an unlicensed ambulance in violation of NJDOH regulations. Meehan emphasized that there were never any complaints from patients concerning its care or the quality of the vehicles used in responses.
State inspectors told the LHEMS that they could no longer use the unlicensed ambulance or handle a 9-1-1 call with one EMT and one driver with CPR certification and basic first aid qualifications. The squad responded immediately by changing to a two EMT policy and if two EMTs were not available the call was transferred to a mutual aid agency.
LHEMS hired a law firm specializing in EMS issues to investigate why its authorization operate by the state was now against regulations and on the advice of its legal counsel and the state of NJ, formed a second agency and gave it its former name of Lanoka Harbor First Aid in order to be a volunteer non-billing agency and use the unlicensed ambulance because it was not a licensed agency.
Meehan said that in the NJDOH sent to LHEMS on Jan. 31, 2020, “there are numerous inaccuracies driving an absurd fine of alleged non-compliances that will require resolution.”
“For example, three of the vehicles cited in the letter are not ambulances and do not transport patients. Our legal representatives will be addressing these inaccuracies directly with the State, as well as appealing the very notion that these fines are inappropriate for use of vehicles as instructed by the agency representatives,” Meehan said.
Meehan added that LHEMS will remain all volunteer. “We ask that our residents continue to support our membership and our organizations. LHEMS continues to answer calls in the LHEMS ambulances and collect from insurance companies. If you see the Lanoka Harbor First Aid ambulance out on the road, you know they are responding to a call we couldn’t cover by LHEMS. Both agency ambulances contain your neighbors volunteering to hep you in your time of need.”
