EMSA sued over alleged billing issues

TULSA - Two Tulsans are suing EMSA, saying the agency wrongly charged them for ambulance services.

The class action lawsuit says the plaintiffs paid monthly fees for EMSA services and should not have been charged.  

Priscilla Johnson and Evan Hughes filed a class action lawsuit against EMSA on Friday.
It alleges EMSA knowingly charged Johnson and Hughes fees when it should not have.

EMSA ambulances are a common site around Tulsa. The agency provides service to more than one million residents in and around Tulsa and Oklahoma City.
 
"EMSA delivers a great quality service," said Tulsa city councilor G.T. Bynum. "The people that are driving around those ambulances, picking people up and driving to the hospital, are doing a great job. It seems to be after you get dropped off at the hospital, and they return to headquarters, that we're running into these problems."

Now some of the agency's billing practices are coming under fire.

The EMSA TotalCare Program costs $3.64 a month on a Tulsa utility bill. The program promises no out-of-pocket costs if ambulance services are used.

Residents are automatically enrolled unless they choose to opt out.

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs were enrolled in the program and should not have been charged. The lawsuit alleges EMSA even sued Johnson and Hughes to collect those fees.

"There's clearly a major customer service issue at hand here," Bynum said.

Bynum says this issue could be affecting dozens of Tulsans.

"The people that I'm hearing from, they didn't opt out of the program, and then got billed for it. These are people who never opted out of the program, who were participating in the program and still got billed for it anyway," Bynum said.

Councilors say as they look into the issue more, they want answers.

"I think the council is going to be very active in its oversight of EMSA in the weeks and months ahead," Bynum said. "And that starts this Thursday, with getting a better understanding of our options from the legal department."

Neither EMSA or an attorney for the plaintiffs were willing to comment on the lawsuit on Tuesday. The plaintiffs are seeking more than $75,000 in damages.