2009 Membership Letter
The Missouri Ambulance Association (MAA) exists to serve Missouri emergency medical services. MAA is made up of a diversified group of ambulance providers, including service directors from districts and private owners, hospital based, air ambulance services, board members and fire districts. We also have a commercial membership of various vendors including insurance companies, medical supplies, billing services and ambulance manufacturers – to name a few. The organization has grown over the years to more than 100 members, and we continue to grow and prosper.
This 2009 Membership letter will give a brief overview of 2008 and look ahead to 2009 and beyond.
2008:
Through our lobbyist, Brent Hemphill and Associates, MAA lobbied to pass legislation related to Medicaid reimbursement, Out of Hospital DNR, Line of Duty Death Benefit, Peer Review Protection, and the Stemi bill, just to name a few.
Over 1000 EMS management, field staff, educators, accounts receivable and board members attended our quarterly meetings, Ambulance Board Member Training and the Ice/SpringBreak Conference.
Through networking we extended helping hands to each other, addressing building a better business models and clinical care effectiveness.
2009
We will continue our focused approach of bringing to our membership issues driving today’s emergency medical services. The ambulance industry is frequently forgotten when it comes to grants, reimbursement issues, and misunderstood in government. Legislative issues for 2009 will include bringing reimbursements, which includes, Medicaid, and the Federal Reimbursement Allocation (FRA) and chart review protection (Peer Review) to our legislators attention again. MAA has also supported the primary seatbelt law, and opposed the repeal of the motorcycle helmet law. MAA will also play a role in bringing effective Cell Phone legislation to MO.
Following a nearly two year review of critical areas the Board elected to change the fee structure to address the following growth issues:
*Development of an ambulance manager training certification program
*Define the roll of a full-time Executive Director
*Continued relationship with our lobbyist
*Continued support of membership meetings, ICE/Spring Break
Conference and Board Member Training by bringing in industry leading
dynamic speakers.
The new fee structure is as follows:
Dues structure is based on # of ambulance transports per year:
0-3000- $300 3001-7500- $600 7501-10,000- $900 10,001 & above- $1,200
Our meetings are held three times a year in January, July and October. We also co-sponsor the ICE/Spring Break Conference in April. Our programs include topics of interest for EMS management, including workman’s compensation, sexual harassment, emergency vehicle driving and safety, HIPAA, billing and collection issues, with representatives from Medicare, Medicaid, HCFA and an occasional visit from David Werfel, Medicare consultant for the American Ambulance Association. The Bureau of EMS has also been very active with our association, providing us with updates and insights at almost every meeting.
Membership in MAA and attendance at their meeting is an effective way to make sure your service is up to date on the latest issues involving EMS and that your service is in compliance with the ever-changing EMS system.
THE MISSOURI AMBULANCE ASSOCIATION IS COMMITED TO ENSURE THAT MISSOURI AMBULANCE SERVICES HAVE A VOICE.
To our membership family we thank you for supporting the Missouri Ambulance Association. For Missouri services who have yet joined, consider our goals for 2009 and become a member today.
Sincerely,
Bob Patterson
MAA President
Barb Shupe
MAA Executive Assistant
Jim McGee
MAA Membership Chair