Planned Takeover of EMS

Open Discussion - for our Readers, Islanders, and Web Site Visitors alike. Discussion regarding any and all aspects of Beaver Island are welcome here. Also a place for general Beaver Island conversation and discussion.

Moderator: Gillespie

Post Reply
medic5740
Posts: 1108
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 8:28 am
Location: Beaver Island

Planned Takeover of EMS

Post by medic5740 »

Planned Takeover of EMS

An Editorial by Joe Moore posted on News on the 'Net

A secret meeting and distorted inaccurate statistics form the basis of a planned take -over of BIEMS by the BIRHC.

Who was present at the secret meeting? Bill McDonough; Dr. John Martin as moderator; Lynn Jenks, CEO of Charlevoix Hospital; Rod Nelson and Karen Cheeseman of Mackinac Stratits Health Systems of St. Ignace; Connie Wojan, BIRHC Board; Denny Cook, BIRHC Board; Donna Kubic, manager of BIRHC: Susan Solle, FNP of BIRHC; Carolyn Space, FNP Provider of BIRHC; Bill Kohls, Peaine Township Supervisor and Chair of the Beaver Island Emergency Services Authority; Gerald LaFreniere, EMT, from BIEMS; Angel Welke, President of Island Airways, the BIEMS licensed Air Transport aircraft owner.

Missing from this meeting are EMS providers and the EMS Executive Director Kevin White, who stated that he wasn't made aware of the meeting. Also missing from this meeting was any representative from the Charlevoix County Medical Control Authority.


Inaccurate statistics have been used once before by the rural health center manager. New on the â??Net is not sure where the manager got the statistics this time from, but they are not only inaccurate they are distorted and an out-and-out falsehood. 


â??95% of the time, BIEMS transports 911 patients to the BIRHC treatment rooms for evaluation and stabilization before evacuation.â?￾ Itâ??s not 95, not 85, not 75, not 50, and not even 25 percent of 911 patients get transported to the medical center. 


â??As a matter of fact,â?￾ Joe Moore, an EMS provider on Beaver Island for thirty years, stated, â??we have been told by the Charlevoix Medical Control Authority, the agency in charge of all emergency patients in Charlevoix County, to not transport patients to the medical center, period, because they are not a licensed hospital. While we comply with patient wishes, less than 11% percent of 911 patients with EMS responses went to the medical center for 2015 and 2016 although another ten percent may have originated with the medical center. I should know since I transported almost 80 percent of the patients in 2015. We transport patients to the medical center location when patient and family request it, or when the paramedic has determined that the situation is not a serious emergency needing further transport. By law, the paramedic, following the laws of the State of Michigan, the administrative rules for that law, and the protocols of the Charlevoix County Medical Control Authority, has the responsibility and the authority to advocate for the emergency patient. This has never been delegated to the BIRHC manager or provider in any written document ever.â?￾


Letâ??s see here, the medical center manager doesnâ??t know the difference between BLS and ALS with inaccurate statistics presented in a mailed-out report to all post office box holders in 2015, and now the manager is inflating 11% of 911 dispatches to 95% when the person that was paged to those emergencies isnâ??t consulted at all, nor is the director of EMS. Doesnâ??t this seem just a little fishy?


Another reason given by the medical center manager for combining the two, and making BIEMS a part of BIRHC, is â??Availability of care providers for direction on patient care.â?￾ This demonstrates the ignorance of those involved in this take-over. First of all, if Charlevoix County Medical Control Authority (CCMCA) wonâ??t allow patients to be transported to an unlicensed facility, why would they allow the provider at the BIRHC to direct emergency pre-hospital care? Second of all, the providers at the BIRHC have no authority over the emergency pre-hospital treatment of patients nor the determination of transport mode nor destination. The law, the rules, and protocols demand and are written to provide the treatments accepted outside a licensed hospital. These protocols are established by the CCMCA and are consistent with the protocols adopted for all pre-hospital patients in the State of Michigan. A licensed physician in a licensed facility can provide written treatments for patient transfer from one physician to another. Even a licensed physician in an unlicensed facility cannot order deviation from these CCMCA protocols unless granted this authority from the medical control physician and only if willing to accompany the patient all the way to the hospital.


The simple facts are that a licensed physician or a licensed Family Nurse Practitioner may not take charge of any patient outside of a licensed facility without the medical control physician granting them the authority and the responsibility for that patient, AND, once granted, that physician or FNP must accompany that patient all the way to the hospital to turn the patient over to a licensed physician in a licensed facility.


These two reasons should be enough to slow down the process of the somewhat hostile take-over of the local EMS by the BIRHC. 
K.A. Pike
Posts: 131
Joined: Mon Nov 01, 2004 1:14 pm

Post by K.A. Pike »

Whats wrong with Dr. John Martin as moderator; Lynn Jenks, CEO of Charlevoix Hospital; Rod Nelson and Karen Cheeseman of Mackinac Stratits Health Systems of St. Ignace; coming over the Beaver Island and offering an other option for care? If the goal of EMS and the BIRHC to offer the best possible service, what has taken so long for these groups to get together around the table and talk? It's obvious from the tone of this editorial someone wants to keep their own turf, but it's clear the old system doesn't work. Everyone has been asking for a solutions, maybe this is it. It sounds like the BIRHC is going to have to raise the bar and it's obvious they can't do this on their own. An off island health system is going to need to partner with the BIRHC to get it done. Past practice is the past. If the BIRHC needs to upgrade their level of service so be it, but it seems reasonable that EMS and and the HC combine their skills and resources for the benefit of the patient.
medic5740
Posts: 1108
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 8:28 am
Location: Beaver Island

Northing wrong with what you say

Post by medic5740 »

The person that wrote the editorial is the one who has been doing EMS on Beaver Island for thirty years. I care about my friends and neighbors, and I have some background in teaching in the medical legal field.

I'm not against any upgrade of the medical center to make it a legal transport destination. I'm not against excellent patient care.

As a matter of fact our local EMS has been providing excellent patient care for thirty years. Just ask some of our previous patients.

You act like this take-over is something new. It has happened twice before with the State of Michigan having to step in both times. In both situations, the medical center received a slap on the wrist regarding their actions. If Dr. Phil Lange was still alive, he could provide you with some excellent feedback about this.

When the system is not broken, when it fits the design of the location, and when the entity causing delays is suggested as the saving grace for something that is not broken, it just smells fishy to me.

There is nothing wrong with the group that attended the secret meeting. I was simply identifying this group for those that didn't know about the meeting even taking place. And they did not offer another option of care. They simply reported on what they do in Mackinaw County. The major difference in their situation is that the hospital owns the medical center and has a physician available 24/7 and they have a facility license which is what makes this plan work for them. They also have laboratory equipment and technicians available. They have a legal facility license.

We don't.

Munson in Traverse City and Charlevoix Hospital are not interested in following this pattern.

The group was missing some important people, just the ones legally responsible for EMS on the island.

The delays in arrival to definitive care is a major concern for those legally responsible for emergency patients, which include the Charlevoix County Medical Control Authority Board members, and they were not consulted or invited.

So I guess we will just have to agree to disagree.

Joe Moore

FYI- I do have a credential or two that would probably identify me as an expert witness if I were called in a court case about this or other issues in emergency care.
PScott
Posts: 103
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2016 9:41 pm
Location: Here and Mason, MI

Post by PScott »

It would be appreciated if details of the Plan B could be shared with the public.
Trish Scott
Post Reply