Paul Fuselier, a relations manager with Acadian Ambulance Services, addressed the Ville Platte City Council at their meeting Tuesday. He was there as a response to the council’s decision to allow MedExpress Ambulance Service to now service the City of Ville Platte. Fuselier said he was there to represent 30 employees who live in Evangeline Parish, seven of whom live in the city of Ville Platte, who bring in an annual payroll of $1.5 million.
Fuselier began by saying having multiple providers does not mean having more ambulances. He said this comes down to the economics of EMS which comes to the amount of patients and call volume, which is small for Evangeline Parish. He said rotating calls is not always going to get someone the closest ambulance because the two ambulance services are not on the same system. “The 911 system is not on the same system as the two ambulance services, so I don’t know where their ambulances are, they don’t know where my ambulances are, and 911 doesn’t has no idea where any of them are.” He further said emergency calls do not pay for the ambulances because many times people cannot afford it and insurances do not cover it all. “It’s your non-emergency calls that makes the money.”
Fuselier read from a letter written by Mark Majors, CEO with MedExpress Ambulance Service, to the Grant Parish Sheriff’s Office, 911 center, police jury, and a local nursing home in Colfax, dated June 16, 2015. In the letter, Majors said the economics of EMS in Grant Parish was totally dependent on utilization of their ambulances and many of the critical, scheduled, non-emergency transports were not going to be given to MedExpress. Majors’ letter was quoted as follows: “These transports are vital because they offset the cost of the more expensive EMS emergency responses. Many in Grant Parish don’t have insurance or the ability to pay. These revenues, when they are given to that one service, are sufficient to maintain the two ambulances that were there in Grant Parish at the time. Without them, we have to adjust our cost, accordingly.” The day after the letter was dated, MedExpress’ 24-hour ambulance in Colfax was suspended because of the lack of calls to be able to maintain that service. Fuselier said Evangeline Parish is not much different from Grant Parish when it comes to the makeup of people with Medicare and Medicaid, insurance and no insurance.
Councilman Bryant Riggs said he appreciates Acadian Ambulance being in the community, but added that bringing MedExpress to the area provides competition which could help to make Acadian’s service even better. “I’m not going to say you won’t lose a small percentage of business, but I’d be shocked if Acadian Ambulance just all of a sudden disappeared overnight because MedExpress moved in.”
Fuselier remarked, “Actually, the opposite happened a few years back in Ville Platte.”
Riggs continued, “This is what I’m getting at. If MedExpress can’t live up to what Acadian Ambulance means to Evangeline Parish, it’s going to be heard across the parish, and they won’t be here for long. You’ve been in business for a long time. It’s going to make y’all better. You’re a household name. If the brand is as good as you say it is, and I know it is, I think y’all will be okay.”
“I appreciate those words, Mr. Riggs, and I understand what you’re saying, but I would lay a word of caution: Competition in EMS, when you’re dealing with people’s lives, is a little bit different,” responded Fuselier, adding he is fine with competition, but would rather compete on the front end. “We can lay out exactly what we can provide for the people of Ville Platte and Evangeline Parish, and the people can choose, but two companies are going to hurt the quality of care in EMS. That’s been proven over the years.”
“I can say this, no one company can offer perfect service,” said Riggs. “No one company can guarantee that, when they come to the scene, they’re going to do all the right things. Once again, I get back to the household name. And I won’t say the council made a decision that put the lives of the citizens of Evangeline Parish in jeopardy. That’s some strong words.”
“That’s not what I said,” Fuselier interjected. “I said the competition on EMS can cause that. We’re not going to change what we do, Mr. Riggs. We’re going to continue to provide the highest quality and the highest level of service.”
“It’s a second choice. That’s all it is,” said Riggs.
Mayor Jennifer Vidrine praised Acadian Ambulance and gave an update on MedExpress, saying they now have an office in the city on Cotton Street. She said they were called recently to respond to an incident and “their response time was great. They responded in two minutes. What we’ve been hearing so far is positive about MedExpress and it’s positive about Acadian Ambulance as well. It’s a win-win situation. We’re getting good reports on both. The important thing here is additional access for our people. I think we’re fortunate that for a city this size we have two great ambulance services.”
More coverage of Tuesday night’s meeting will be in Sunday’s edition.
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Nancy Duplechain
Associate Editor