The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "EMS" ...
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Are EMS Companies Taking Medicare For A Ride?
The Houston Chronicle published stories detailing how Houston was the nation's private ambulance capital and how it was connected to questionable Medicare payments and unregulated for-profit mental health clinics.
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Lost Ambulances
"Many people think GPS will lead people in the right direction, including 911 operators. One operator made a critical mistake not taking down directions and assuming the county's 911 mapping system would lead the ambulance in the right direction. What she didn't know is more than 40 RV and trailer parks did not show up in that mapping system."
Tags: Lee County EMS; response time; maps; EMT;
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EMS Taxi: Health Care Dysfunction on Wheels
An analysis of the public records database found that Cleveland residents were calling 911 to be picked up by Emergency Medical Service ambulances for minor ailments. This is because dispatchers can't say no. The result is that response times are slow and the transportation is a high cost for the city.
Tags: transportation; emergency medical services; Medicaid; Medicare; Metrohealth Medical Center; Cleveland; ambulance; 911; database; health; medicine;
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Air Ambulances
A Fort Worth physician who was a medical director for several local EMS units was also employed by a "for-profit air ambulance service." Under his direction the EMS units began using his company's helicopters, even when they weren't the closest ones to the scene.
Tags: medical; emergency; EMS; helicopters; air ambulance; politicians; patients; injuries;
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Low Rates Cost E.M. $2 million
"East Moline, Ill. lost out on more than $2 million over eight years by not charging other municipalities the water and sewer rates approved by aldermen. The city undercharged the municipalities it serves for sewage treatment, and overcharged them for water usage."
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Firefighters Under Fire
This three part series investigates the San Francisco Fire Department based on information revealed from unnamed firefighters. In "Light Duty", hidden cameras show one officer works just 16 hours a week at his full time job, but still gets paid for 40 hours. Other light duty-or injured firefighters-get paid to watch for alarms, a job that could be eliminated and save tax dollars if the system was automated. Light duty officers are supposed to be restricted to one year of this recovery work, but this rule was not enforced. "Fire Raid" shows alcohol and drug use are problems at fire stations. One officer was found on duty with a blood alcohol level above the accepted limit and another tested positive for marijuana. A third officer drove a fire truck while taking medication that warns against operating hazardous machinery. In "EMS Mistake", the paramedic team is accused of not following protocol in response to an accident and causing the victim to be paralyzed. The investigation finds that other on-going investigations accuse paramedics of assault and even leaving a live woman for dead.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; FOIA; sunshine law; firefighter; fire department; EMS; emergency medical service; hidden camera; light duty; drugs; alcohol; marijuana
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"When Seconds Count"
Reporters from WFTS-TV performed an analysis of emergency response times for EMS districts in the Tampa Bay area. What they found was that the St. Pete an d Pinellas counties were, on average, 6 minutes slower to respond for emergency calls. The action team also discovered that, in some districts, ambulances were not well equipped to decrease their response time.
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911 Tape Details Fatal Night
"When a heart attack dropped Jim Wagner on the floor of a Memphis pool hall, it took an ambulance half an hour to arrive." The Commercial Appeal investigated why it took so long for an ambulance to arrive despite more than a half-dozen people calling 911 to report the heart attack. They discovered 911 dispatchers had first sent ambulances to three wrong addresses, and that the EMS personnel involved "displayed a remarkable lack of familiarity of the section of town where Wagner died, a neighborhood recently annexed into the city." The paper used the state's open-records law to obtain the 911 tapes pertaining to the incident, and found "dispatchers were rudely dismissive of callers offering valuable information" and that "authorities in an adjacent jurisdiction refused to send an ambulance, even though the pool hall lay one block outside its jurisdiction." The 911 mapping system also appeared to have failed.
Tags: EMS; 911; emergency services; hospital; heart attack; cardiac; cardiac arrest; dispatch; fire; police; annex; death; fatal
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Six Minutes To Live or Die
This USA Today investigation finds that emergency medical systems in most of the nation's 50 largest cities are fragmented, inconsistent, and slow. The found three major reasons that emergency services in most U.S. cities are saving so few people in life-or-death situations. Many cities' emergency services are undermined by their culture...disagreements and turf wars between fire departments and ambulance services cause deadly delays. Most cities don't measure their performance effectively..if at all. So they can't determine how many lives they're losing, and therefore can't find ways to increase survival rates. Finally, many cities lack the strong leadership needed to improve emergency medical services.
Tags: Medical emergency; paramedic; emergency services industry; statistics; false statistics; response times; 911 dispatch centers; fire trucks; ambulances; EMS; Mayo Clinic; performance; survival rates; delays
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Six Minutes to live or die
Davis reports that "emergency medical services in the nation's 50 largest cities are fragmented, inconsistent and slow, costing more than 1,000 lives each year." According to the report, "the problems are rooted in easy-to-fix areas, including turf battles between emergency agencies, inaccurate measurement of response times and survival rates, and lack of community leadership."
Tags: emergency response; ambulance; firefighters; CPR; cardiac arrest; paramedics; emergency system; medics; doctors; EMS