Category: Featured
Explaining the Asterisk Behind Your 2020* Data
Author: Tim Nowak 2020* will forever have an asterisk behind it in terms of data management – including call volume trending, operations-finance relationships, overtime expenditures, sick time usage, disposable supply increases, (lack of) revenue generation, and just about EVERYTHING fire & EMS related. As fire & EMS chiefs, we …
Thank you, Fire and EMS Leaders!
We appreciate all of the ways you make a difference! Living this year’s National EMS Week theme through your work every day, thank you for always “Rising to the Challenge.” With over 70 years of combined Fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) field experience, our team at Public Consulting Group …
What being “essential” means
Author: Tim Nowak Being essential is not a golden ticket. It’s also not a silver bullet. At best, it’s an unfunded mandate, but that’s the start that many EMS agencies need in order to begin getting the recognition and funding they deserve. Being classified as an “essential service” through …
Grant Opportunities
PCG understands that departments are in need of additional funding to support operations. We have also bared witness to the hundreds of thousands of dollars that go unclaimed each year in grant opportunities. What is the disconnect? What are the hardships in applying for grants? That is what PCG would …
PCG’s Webinar “For Comparison’s Sake” In Review
PCG’s Public Safety Consulting Service (PSCS) team presented the webinar “For Comparison’s Sake!”, which takes a case example approach toward identifying data metrics, operational factors, financial impacts, and policy elements that could all be utilized as relative comparable points from within – and outside of – fire and EMS departments …
Is Your Department Ready for a Medicaid Audit?
Many of PCG’s ambulance clients across the country are familiar with state Medicaid agency desk reviews. These pre-payment reviews help identify reporting errors that could result in overpayment of supplemental Medicaid revenues to providers. Recently, supplemental payment programs in several states have implemented more in-depth audits, generally post-payment, that require …
Ground Ambulance Providers are Officially on the CMS Clock to Start Collecting Data
Authors: Rachel Ray and Sarah DiCicco A Brief History of Medicare In 1965, Medicare was signed into law under President Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1966, Medicare was officially implemented and around nineteen million individuals enrolled in the program during that first year. In the 1970s, Medicare eligibility was expanded …
Comparable Differences: Apples and Oranges When Comparing Fire Departments
Author: Tim Nowak *Published to the International Association of Fire Chiefs on February 2nd, 2022* My department, your department, and another neighboring department — are we all comparable to one another, or are we truly different (and how)? Is your fire department an apple or an orange? Where do …
Act Now! Grant Funding Available for Rural EMS Agencies
Author: Tim Nowak The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is offering rural EMS agencies the opportunity to apply for grant funding, up to $200,000 for one year, to provide training and necessary equipment to help combat the effects of substance abuse and emergency response challenges within …
Bringing the New Year into Focus with 3 Resolutions
Author: Tim Nowak (3-4 minute read) Eat a little less junk food, lose a little excess body weight, save money for a family trip… we’ve all made New Years’ resolutions similar to these before, right? On a personal level, these are the generic, cookie-cutter responses that come into our minds …