*UPDATE TO ARTICLE BELOW: Ridgeview News was contacted by Steve Whited, CEO of Minnie Hamilton Health Systems regarding misquotes or misunderstandings by Ridgeview during the Thursday evening work session. Ridgeview will never intentionally mislead, but as human nature is, I am not above mistakes. (*1) Mr. Whited noted that the description of Minnie Hamilton’s potential loss as a “loss of allowable billing was not correct, the correction is allowable cost for reimbursement not being allowable, this is a product of the unique ways our facility designations are ultimately reimbursed.” (**2) According to Mr. Whited, what Bruce Fitzwater stated was that “their current insurance policy would not be renewed by current carrier due to being high risk, however they could search for other coverages.” (***3) Ridgeview’s reference to Scripture. This was not a reference to Minnie Hamilton not being a new wine bottle. Minnie Hamilton has indeed been a blessing to the community. This was a reference to the County Government’s refusal to change their way of conducting their end of the EMS/911 business by denying that there are still issues and just “moving on.” I sometimes forget the readers are not inside my head when I make statements such as that. Again, apologies to all concerned.
The Calhoun County Commission held a work meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday evening for the purpose of discussing the prior and current issues of Calhoun EMS. All three Commissioners attended with the meeting opened by Commission President Matt Walker. He began the meeting by requesting that the community move forward on a positive note, leaving the past behind with regards to the mistakes made by Calhoun EMS. He thanked all parties involved including Minnie Hamilton, Calhoun EMS and Director Jason Wilson for their transparency and willingness to take on the task of restoring the Calhoun EMS.
Bruce Fitzwater was the first to speak on the direction Calhoun EMS is going as well as where it has come from and to describe what has been a very rough six months on their agency. He began by reminding those in attendance where EMS was when Calhoun EMS came into existence. They had only a 2006 ambulance. A $250,000 loan from the bank to start up the EMS and the levy was only providing $195,000 in funds. Their staff was not receiving competitive wages or benefits and because of that they couldn’t staff ambulances in the county for 24/7 coverage. The Calhoun EMS board was shocked to find out that their service had received a suspension; unaware the the operation had been run so poorly. But currently the levy is well above $300,000 and the loan has been paid in full. They’ve purchased a $91,000 ambulance with the help of $45,000 from the Calhoun County Commission. Minnie Hamilton is now staffing and paying competitive wages. Calhoun EMS is on far better ground than before.
Mr. Fitzwater then brought up that he was upset with the Ridgeview News for running the Calhoun EMS financial statement. A matter Ridgeview and Mr. Fitzwater had discussed in detail and without argument. But for clarity a statement that had been provided by Calhoun EMS. His frustration was in the fact that the 2022 profit and loss statement did not reflect the true “profit” of Calhoun EMS. It was less than that listed on the bottom line because it did not include the explanation of purchases, CARES act money and donations that would have left the profit status at around $60,000. The profit and loss statement listed the profit at $135,749.80.
There was nothing false about the report that the Ridgeview News ran. What wasn’t listed on the profit and loss statement that would have been listed on a balance sheet was that they had spent $45,000 on the new ambulance and the donations evidently should not have been listed as profit and loss. None of that was an error on Ridgeview’s behalf. Mr. Fitzwater’s concern as well as other peoples concern was that the community would see “profit” and think that the levy wasn’t needed. Ridgeview News would NEVER suggest that. The levy is needed because our community needs to insure we have proper emergency coverage and money to replace trucks and equipment when they breakdown as they often do.
Mr. Fitzwater went on to report that Calhoun EMS currently has no debt and with the assistance of Minnie Hamilton Health Systems things are going very well. He stated that he could not go back and change history or how he performed his job. He emphasized that he had been truthful about all matters and offered his resignation at any time if the County Commission requested it. The County Commission of course denied his request believing he is doing what’s best for the county and emergency services.
As for the matter of the missing run sheets and lack of billing, he offered no explanation saying that for now there were some things they just didn’t have answers for. He knew nothing of the missing run sheets or how that part of the business operated. He did however question Julie Sears about the EMS runs being lower than before. He acknowledged that if the missing run sheets had been billed there would have been money “left on the table.” ** His last act of transparency was to tell those in attendance that Calhoun EMS has also had their insurance policy canceled effective in April 2023 because they are now a “high risk” agency because of the negligence of Calhoun EMS’s staff and Director Julie Sears.
Steve Whited, Administrator of Minnie Hamilton Health System was second to address the community saying that he did not believe there was that much profit for Calhoun EMS either, nor did he believe the monetary loss of the 355 missing run sheets was as high as had been predicted in the amount of $300,000. As to the facts on that matter he was doubtful the amount would ever be determined for sure because of an issue with the software conversion at 911 which caused them to lose records. He did say that they were working their way through the information they had, they met had twice in recent weeks because they want to know the missing revenue.
As for Minnie Hamilton taking over the Calhoun EMS, Whited said that they were moving forward cautiously because they stood to lose $400,000 by assuming the responsibility. *What he referred to was not a loss of revenue but a loss in “allowable billing.” Medicare and Insurance has caps on what they allow to be billed for certain services. It would stand to reason if Calhoun EMS made profit, so would Minnie Hamilton. The hospital has also been working with offices such as Senator Joe Manchin on Legislation that would help them to recoup the loss of those non billable services. Calhoun will be apart of the State’s Pilot Program.
Jason Wilson, Director of Calhoun EMS said of the issue regarding the missing run sheets that he had spoken to Julie Sears who said that they (EMS under her direction) had several refusals that could have been part of the issue of unreported runs. However, every run, regardless of transport or refusal was required to be documented.
Bruce Fitzwater brought up the obvious need for an audit of the EMS agency and asked the Commission if they would want an audit of just the levy fund or a more in-depth audit of the agency. Commissioner Kevin Helmick said “we know money wasn’t stolen, we just need to move on.” He later said that the levy funds are the only thing the county is required to produce and he thought that was enough.
Craig Arthur asked Mr. Fitzwater if he thought that the audit of levy funds would be enough to allow them to see the issues with EMS. Fitzwater and Steve Whited both agreed that it would be enough because it was an issue was with missing records and that you can’t audit what you don’t have.
The community was asked if anyone had questions. Pauline Ferrell asked Minnie Hamilton if they could take over 911 as well but Steve Whited informed her that wasn’t possible.
Eric Lupardus asked the County Commissioners if they thought there would be any issues with liability lawsuits regarding Minnie Hamilton. The answer from the Commission as well as Whited and Wilson was to insure that Calhoun EMS’s insurance would cover any litigation that could come up being that the agency had insurance during the occurrence of the incidents in question.
Ridgeview News asked Commissioner Kevin Helmick, who now sits on the 911 board, to check on why the EMS is not being dispatched when the fire departments respond to a fire scene. It was protocol for EMS to be dispatched due to the danger of firefighters being overcome with smoke inhalation or other issues on scene but this has not happened for some time. As for the continuing saga of Calhoun EMS, Ridgeview also noted that the county shouldn’t be made to feel guilty because they bring up the matters of EMS. There have been no answers provided for the County as to why this was allowed to happen without repercussion.
Eric Lupardus asked about the failure of turning in run sheets and the liability concerning that. Why had no one been held accountable for that happening? He also asked if it was a criminal offense for not documenting emergency medical procedures. And while nobody would say that it was a matter of the law, they all acknowledged that it was certainly a matter of ethics and procedure and should have been done. Jason Wilson assured all those attending that these matters are overseen by their staff and insured of compliance. Lupardus reminded the Commissioners that nobody should have gotten a free pass on such a serious charge.
When asked about the drugs on the Ambulance and the lack of run sheets, Jason Wilson assured everyone that the drugs on the ambulances were monitored by the Minnie Hamilton pharmacy and wouldn’t have been replaced without a run sheet. From that standpoint it is not believed any drugs were missing from he trucks.
As the evening came to a close let it be noted that the lack of concern or comment over the missing billing doesn’t lend itself to create confidence in the management of County Finances.
*** There’s a scripture in the Bible where Jesus speaks a parable in Luke 5:37-38 saying: “No man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.”
If it’s true that when you put new wine into old bottles, the bottles burst and the wine would be wasted; is the same not true if we put new money into an agency that is still keeping with their old ways, it too would not be wasted?
Those in Attendance: Matt Walker, Craig Arthur, Kevin Helmick, Jason Wilson, Bruce Fitzwater, Steve Whited, Roger Propst, Michael Plato, Pauline Ferrell, Eric Lupardus, and Shari Johnson.
