Washington state couple billed $1k for ambulance ride across hospital campus

A Washington state couple claims Greenwood Village, Colo.-based American Medical Response charged more than $1,000 for an ambulance ride from Harborview Medical Center's heli-pad across the Seattle hospital's campus, according to an KING-TV report.

The claim from Paul Smale and Wilma Mullins-Smale refers to the ride Mr. Smale took following a bicycle crash four years ago.  

"You're landing at a trauma center hospital and now the patient has to pay for an ambulance to pick you up there and drive you from the hospital maybe a half a block — just around the corner. That's pretty crazy," Ms. Mullins-Smale, a nurse, told the television station.

Harborview, part of Seattle-based UW Medicine, said options outside of ambulance rides for transport of critical patients from the heli-pad to the emergency room have not been successful, according to KING-TV.

UW Medicine referred Becker's Hospital Review to AMR for comment. AMR said it is "still reviewing the claim and do[es] not have a response at this time."

 

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