Worcester Business Journal Special Editions

wbjournal.com | Book of Lists 2017 | Worcester Business Journal 43 H E A L T H C A R E F O C U S Private ambulance services Ranked by number of vehicles Name No. of vehicles/ local employees License/ profit or nonprofit No. of locations/ areas served Description Head of company Year founded 1 Wood's Ambulance Inc. 457 Main St., Gardner 01440 978-632-1530 • www.woodsambulance.com 19 75 Paramedic profit 1 Greater Gardner, Athol and Lancaster; scheduled transportation available outside of these areas Emergent and non-emergent medical transportation; fleet includes ambulances, chair vans and a wheelchair bus James Wood president & CEO 1954 2 UMass Memorial EMS 55 Lake Ave. North, Worcester 01655 508-421-5705 • www.umassmemorialems.com 18 98 * Paramedic nonprofit 4 Worcester, Shrewsbury 911 provider, advanced life support and transport service; 15 Class I ambulances, three Class V ambulances Stephen Haynes chief, WEMS 1977 ** 3 K's Personal Transport Inc. 94 Main St., Oxford 01540 508-987-2254 • www.kambulance.com 9 30 Basic profit 1 Central Mass. and Northeastern Conn., within a 30-mile radius of Worcester Basic life support ambulance and wheelchair van services David Krevosky president 1986 4 Webster EMS 67 Thompson Road, Webster 01570 508-943-2218 • www.websterems.com 7 31 Paramedic nonprofit 1 Webster with mutual aide to Oxford, Dudley, Douglas, Thompson (Conn.), Southbridge, Auburn, Charlton 911 emergency care to a population of 16,800 residents and primary provider for Harrington Memorial Hospital Gary Milliard Jr. EMS chief 1923 5 Spencer EMS 6 Bixby Road, Spencer 01562 508-885-4476 • www.spencerrescue.org 4 45 Paramedic nonprofit 1 Spencer High-quality emergent response and event coverage; three ambulances and one utility vehicle Ted Flanagan executive director 1959 6 West Brookfield Rescue Squad 18R W. Main St., West Brookfield 01585 508-637-1778 • www.westbrookfieldrescuesquad.com 2 14 Basic nonprofit 1 West Brookfield and surrounding areas New state-of-the-art ambulances and latest technology in equipment Dan McCall president 1952 7 North Brookfield Emergency Squad Inc. 58 School St., North Brookfield 01535 508-867-6308 • NA 1 25 Basic nonprofit 1 North Brookfield 911 provider for the town of North Brookfield Patrick Kiritsy director 1956 8 UMass Memorial LifeFlight 55 Lake Ave. North, Worcester 01655 508-421-5700 • www.umassmemorialems.com 1 13 Critical care nonprofit 1 All of New England Air medical transport Gina Smith program director 1982 9 Community EMS Inc. 401 Cedar Hill St., Marlborough 01752 508-485-4544 • www.community- ems.com DND DND Paramedic profit 4 Marlborough, Milford, MetroWest Ambulance service with advanced and basic life support, medical transportation Randy Jusseaume president & CEO 1965 10 MedStar Ambulance *** 62 Washington St., Worcester 01608 508-799-0004 • www.medstarma.com DND DND Paramedic profit 5 Greater Worcester, Pioneer Valley, MetroWest Emergency basic life support and advanced life support as well as non-emergency transportation Eric Gordon division manager 2000 11 Vital Enterprises Inc. EMS & Medical Transport 1013 Main St., Worcester 01603 508-757-9111 • www.vitalems.com DND DND Paramedic profit 4 Worcester County Ambulance service with advanced and basic life support, medical transportation David Loiselle business development manager 2000 Source: Massachusetts Office of Emergency Medical Services, each provider via survey and their websites. Notes: Ambulance service licensure is available at the basic, intermediate, paramedic and critical care service levels. Unable to confirm information for Events EMS Inc. of Medway. DND = did not disclose; NA = not applicable. * Licensed paramedics ** Transferred to UMass in 1991, and to UMass Memorial in 1998 *** MedStar declined to respond to the survey; data taken from website. - Compiled by: Stephanie R. Meagher, smeagher@nebusinessmedia.com The Medicare & Medicaid Fraud Reporting Center lists the ambulance transport industry as one of the major sources for Medicare and Medicaid fraud in the U.S., highlighting notorious cases in the early 2000s in which corrupt companies had to pay $20 million or more to set- tle lawsuits claiming they fraud- ulently billed for services. In January, Medstar Ambulance, which has opera- tions throughout Worcester County and MetroWest, became a local example of an ambu- lance services provider that had to pay up in the face of fraud allegations. Medstar paid $12.7 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit filed by a former billing manager in 2013, alleging MedStar col- lected money for unnecessary services by adding false infor- mation to claims. The billing manager, Dale Meehan, was due to receive $3.6 million from the settlement for acting as the whistleblower. Medstar did not admit liability in settling the suit, according to Ken Pickering, an attorney with Worcester law firm Mirick O'Connell, who represented Medstar. "MedStar was pleased to work with the Department of Justice to resolve these over- payment issues," Pickering said in January. In addition to Medstar, Cataldo Ambulance Services of Somerville made headlines last year when Attorney General Maura Healey sued the compa- ny for allegedly overbilling the state's Medicaid program, MassHealth, by $600,000. The owner of the company denied wrongdoing. - Emily Micucci Ambulance services a breeding ground for fraud?

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