Continued crack down on Medicare fraud and EMS providers.  This one is somewhat unusual in that management level individuals and not just the owners were sentenced to prison.  Once again, this involved billing for medically unnecessary transportation. 

Full DOJ press release here http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/southern-california-ambulance-company-owner-operator-and-managers-sentenced-prison-medicare

It's not new news to people in the industry but this is a strong message that the OIG is focusing on EMS agencies now more than ever.  The report finds that ambulance claims paid by Medicare doubled from 2003 to 2012.  Effective corporate compliance programs remain critical to EMS agencies.

See the report here:  Inappropriate Payments and Questionable Billing for Ambulance Transports

The firm founding Principal, Kevin Fairlie, is an invited speaker at the Pinnacle EMS Leadership Conference being held at the Omni Plantation Amelia Island Resort in Florida from August 3-7, 2015.  Mr. Fairlie will be presenting at two separate sessions where he will advise the nation's EMS leaders on issues involving the largest risk areas for EMS leaders and companies as well as providing expertise on how to handle major government investigations.

This is a link to the Pinnacle Program and Mr. Fairlie's topics:  www.pinnacle-ems.com/program/?faculty=kevin-fairlie-jd