JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville ambulance company said a legal battle with the federal government could force it to close its doors, potentially leaving thousands of people without ambulance service.
Liberty Ambulance Service and four local hospitals were named in a federal whistleblower lawsuit involving accusations of Medicare billing errors.
The lawsuit said the whistleblower observed "regular practices of falsifying Medicare required documents and records" at Liberty Ambulance Service.
Liberty Ambulance Service President Michael Assaf said while billing mistakes have been made by the company and the government, he maintains the company did not commit fraud.
“There’s mistakes in any billing especially when it comes to health care billing," Assaf said. "The bills are very convoluted. We believe the errors go both ways and they may be heavily weighted on the government’s side because we believe that Medicare has denied payments on things that should have been paid."
Assaf said the company is now fighting the federal government because it is seeking $3 million from the company.
“Three million dollars is impossible,” Assaf said. “The company would have to close. It can’t even be structured. On a company our size, a small business, they know that’s an unreasonable insane offer.”
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Assaf said while the larger sized hospitals were able to come to a settlement, the asking price for the ambulance company is far beyond its capabilities.
Assaf said it is a family owned small business with up to 200 employees.
“We are the smallest fish in this pond,” Assaf said.
Assaf said the company provides ambulance service for roughly 65,000 people a year and around 10,000 are Medicare patients.
The company serves Duval, Clay, St. Johns, Nassau and Baker counties.
Some people said the threat of losing those services could leave a devastating impact on the community.
“My sister had a heart attack one time and if it wasn’t for that what would we have done?” Rhonda Dubose said.
“There’s patients now that aren’t being transported and need to go and if you throw 65,000 more on top of that, the local 911 provider is going to need a lot more money,” Assaf said.
Assaf said Liberty Ambulance Service made a counter offer to the federal government for $400,000 to avoid further litigation costs but he said it was rejected.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office from the Middle District of Florida told Action News: “We are continuing to negotiate a settlement with Liberty Ambulance. It is our hope, in this case, that we can reach an agreement short of formal litigation. Despite our willingness to discuss a settlement, we believe that the damages in this case are in the multiple-million dollar range and we will ardently seek to recover taxpayer money.”