(The Center Square) – Emergency care services may soon be unavailable to Michiganders in the eastern part of the Upper Peninsula due to the Michigan Department of Corrections’ healthc are provider, Wellpath, neglecting to pay millions owed to local emergency services
State lawmakers in September requested an audit of MODC and Wellpath’s alleged mishandling of a $590 million contract, leaving nearly $6 million unpaid to at least 15 ambulance services across the state. EMS services operating near state prisons served inmates in partnership with Wellpath, only for the organization to terminate its contract with the MODC in April and abandon its unpaid bills to EMS services.
Kinross Township EMS, which serves a 640 square-mile area of eight townships in Chippewa County, is owed nearly $500,000 from Wellpath. Unless it receives compensation within the next month, Kinross will not be able to make payroll and will be forced to drastically reduce or completely shut down ambulance services, leaving residents in that region without emergency medical services.
“The lack of compensation for our emergency care in Michigan’s prisons has become a serious crisis that will soon affect our ability to serve our communities,” Kinross EMS Director Renee Gray said last week. “EMS is expected to respond 24/7/365 and it’s not acceptable to not be compensated for our work, especially not when we are assisting the State of Michigan.”
Other affected EMS providers have had to freeze hiring, delay purchasing replacement medical equipment, and stop purchasing any new ambulances, with smaller EMS providers impacted particularly hard.
“EMS agencies are trusted to show up no matter what, but we can’t be expected to be able to do that if we aren’t compensated for our work,” said Jeff White, chief of Richmond Lenox EMS, which serves portions of Macomb and St. Clair Counties. “It is unacceptable to punish us for MDOC and the State of Michigan not holding their healthcare vendor accountable when we never had a say on the vendor to begin with.”
The Michigan Association of Ambulance Services is urgently reiterating its request that EMS providers be reimbursed, through a state budget supplemental if necessary.
