October 2012

Tennessee Ambulance Service Association

Board Meeting Minutes

October 9th, 2012

Opryland Radisson

 

President Ward called the meeting to order at 13:30.

Board members present:  Brandon Ward – President, Chad Graham – Vice Present, Larry Billingsley – Treasurer, Chuck Latimer – Secretary, John Combes – Region 3, John Fitzsimmons – Middle TN Grand, Derek Merritt – West TN Grand, Andrew Reed – East TN Grand, Rick Valentine – Region 2, Lis Henley – Region 5, Joyce Noles – Region 7/8.  Mike Shankle, Doug McQuary, and Twila Rose – Conference Committee.

Minutes from TASA Board on September 6th were read.  Motion to approve by Merritt, seconded by Henley.

Treasurers Report:  Treasurer Billingsley reported that our balance was $60,141.29 before the Reimbursement conference has been paid.  Twila Rose reported that 115 members had paid there dues so far this year.

John Fitzsimmons gave the NAEMT report.  The NAEMT advocacy position was again discussed.  We are unsure if Tennessee actually has someone in this position.  It was discussed if the Past State President could fill this advocacy position in future years.  This was not put in the form of a motion.  There were several items discussed in the NAEMT Report:

a. NAEMT membership elections are being held from October 15-28, 2012.

b. The annual NAEMT meetings are being held from October 29-31, 2012.

c. The Veterans Emergency Medical Technician Support Act (HR 4124) has passed in the House.

d. NAEMT 2012 Award Winners were announced.  (Kenneth Davenport, Paramedic, Marion KY and Dean Darling, EMT, Sank City WI)

e. NAEMT partners with Jones and Bartlett for PHTLS and AMLS.

f. EMS Day on the Hill will be March 5-6, 2013.

g. NAEMT has adopted a new position statement on “Just Culture” in EMS, which is a value supportive system of shared accountability where health care organizations are accountable for the system.

h. Congratulations to the NAEMT scholarship winners.

Legislative Committee:  Some services are still having TennCare payments recouped.  We are checking into contacting the Bureau concerning this.

Mid-Winter Conference Committee:  All speakers have been set, with the exception of the keynote.  It was discussed of having a concurrent session at that conference on developing supervisors.

New Business:  It was discussed that the insurance premiums at conferences have greatly increased as well as transporting and storing all hospitality supplies.  John Fitzsimmons made a motion that TASA reimburse Doug McQuary for these expenses.  His motion was to reimburse Doug for transport and storage for $1500.  The motion was seconded by Graham, and all voted in favor.

Reimbursement Conference:  It was reported by Mike Shankle that there were only 99 attendees this year because many services are outsourcing their billing.  It was discussed in detail what we can add to offset the falling attendance.  One major thing discussed was the certified ambulance coding class, which would be three full days and cost around $1000.

Awards Committee:  John Fitzsimmons noted that he has pinned down 6 of the 7 sponsors for the awards.  He is also putting together a list of all TASA Presidents that have served in that position since its’ inception.

Other Business:  All members wanted to think Whitney Miller for picking up our conference supplies which had been delivered to Gatlinburg instead of Nashville.

The meeting was adjourned at 14:50.