September 2012

Tennessee Ambulance Service Association

Meeting Minutes

September 6, 2012

Board Members Present:  Brandon Ward – President, Chad Graham – Vice President, Larry Billingsley – Treasurer, Derek Merritt – West TN Grand, John Fitzsimmons – Middle TN Grand, Rick Valentine – Region 2, Joyce Noles – Region 7, Andrew Reed – East TN Grand, John Combes – Region 3, Lis Henley – Region 5, Ricky Slack – Region 4.

Others Present:  Mark Pierce, Whitney Miller – Air-Evac; Joseph Rike – MFD, Keith Douglas – Sumner County EMS.

President Ward called the meeting to order at 10:15.

Minutes from the August 2, 2012 meeting were read and approved.  Motion to approve by Reed, seconded by Fitzsimmons.

Treasurer’s Report:  Larry Billingsley was present and advised that our balance was $33,359.62.  Motion to approve by Fitzsimmons, seconded by Combes.

President Ward discussed Volunteer services again.  This was tabled from the last meeting.  The definition was: Services that are not paid nor bill for their service.  Donna Tidwell reported that she believed there were 7.  There was again much discussion to make the volunteer services voting members.  They have asked us to make them a voting member without paying any dues.  This would require a bylaw change.  John Fitzsimmons made a motion that we reduce their fee to $100 and $10 per unit.  Motion did not receive a second and failed.  There was a motion by John Combes to leave it as is, second by Fitzsimmons and the motion carried.

Donna Tidwell gave the State EMS Report.  She will be attending a national meeting on Community Paramedicine.  Two more teaching institutions have applied for critical care teaching status, one was in upper east and the other in rural west.  She also commented that the conversion to the KKK ambulance specs to the NFPA.  President Ward discussed that this conversion is not near as costly as previously reported.  Vice President Graham asked during the State report if there was any consideration to developing alternatives for EMS personnel once they are unable to physically perform in EMS.  Donna also advised that if any service has a license has an effective date of later than 7-1 that she needs to be notified.  There was much discussion about when licenses are actually issued.

John Fitzsimmons brought up a point of order:  The TASA website says fees are $10 per vehicle, but our bylaws were changed in February 2012 to assess a $20 per unit fee.

John also made a motion that we amend the bylaws to redefine the number of our quorum.  His motion was to change the quorum from 6 to 8.  It was seconded by Reed.  Membership must be notified in writing 15-45 days before the annual conference.  All voted in favor with the exception of one nay.

Keith Douglas reported about the new TASA website.  There was a major upgrade and it is very functional.  There were only one to two dead links if any.  TASA also has a Facebook page.

Mid-Winter Report:  Whitney Miller from the conference committee reported that everything is going as planned, and that the brochure is almost complete.

There was much discussion and alternatives to greatly reducing the costs of the Washington DC trip.

Billing Conference Report:  Mike Shankle was not present, but President Ward reported that as far as he knows, everything has been completed.  The Medical Director’s conference has been cancelled.  If your MD needs a guidebook, call your Regional Consultant.

It was reported that State EMS is most likely moving to a State owned building.

JEMS conference is the day after national EMS day on the hill in DC.

Legislative Report:  There was much discussion about this report.  The major issue is making EMS an essential service.  Beth at McMahan-Winstead thinks this will be an uphill battle.  CTAS may oppose TASA on this issue.  We should go to our local governments and see what they think about the issue.  Every County in TN has EMS right now even though it is not listed as an essential service.

One TennCare MCO is denying almost all EMS claims because of a “glitch” in their system.  Some services have had monies re-cooped without cause.

Medicare Report:  The current audits are going to expand.  Medicare is also trying to have legislation passed so that a PCS does not constitute medical necessity.

Old Business: None

New Business: None