Land Ambulance Debate Ramped Up

The Kenora District Services Board is turning up the heat in an effort to solve the long-standing issue of land ambulance non-urgent patient transfers.
The KDSB has introduced a new policy that could allow the Board to bill hospitals and nursing homes for so-called Code 1 and 2 transfers or cut the practice out all together.
Chair Phil Vinet says this issue has gone on long enough.
Vinet says it has become a major safety issue and notes it’s a Northern Ontario problem that’s been ignored for far too long.
Vinet stresses folks need to think what they would do if there was no ambulance available in the case of a true emergency.
He’s hoping by implementing the policy on November 8th it will bring everyone to the table and force the Province’s hand.
Mark Balcaen is the President of the Lake of the Woods District Hospital and says he won’t stand for billing hospitals.
Balcaen says he’s seeked legal advice from his legal team and the Ministry of Health and notes the Board isn’t allowed to bill hospitals or nursing rooms.
Vinet says the Board will be seeking their own legal advice as some members question Balcaen’s claim.
Balcaen does agree that something needs to be done and both sides need to sit down to find and alternate and viable solution.
He notes local Hospitals are willing to sit down with the Board at any time.
The Board also believes some hospitals or doctors are improperly coding cases in order for the patient to receive a ride home.
The Board says when the policy was first changed in 2006, code 3 and 4 cases went up signficantly.
The land ambulance issue is both a safety and financial one.
The KDSB says it costs well over $450,000 to provde non-emergency patient transfers.
For example, a round-way trip to bring someone from Kenora to Winnipeg costs $1,000.
Ambulance personnel have made that trip 93-times this past year.
The KDSB is also reporting wait times of well over an hour for some code 3 or 4 emergency calls.
Staff plan to meet with local hospitals to resolve the problem.