American Medical Response

Just wanted to give an update to how this panned out in hopes it helps other people. I followed my insurance’s instructions to not pay these people, even though it made me nervous… they were threatening to mar my credit!
My insurance came through, they paid this company everything they were after, so don’t panic, just keep calling your insurance. It took me 3 rounds of this if I recall correctly, but everything worked out fine. If you are covered for emergency, stand strong and don’t let these people scare you.

The paramedic (with full arm tattoos) that transferred our pt to John Muir Walnut Creek ED from Aspen Surgery Center today was just plain rude and acted like he was so bothered by his job. Why even work in this kind of industry?

Egregious billing practices. Charged over $ 3k for a 6 mile ride to the hospital during a true emergency. You’re better off taking a car service to the hospital instead of calling 911. This company is disgraceful.

they charged 4x what my insurance company says they should be charging for their services.

This company has so far (8 month) failed to provide Blue Shield with the standard claims information on the ambulance services I received. Now they are coming after me with an «Invoice» and 8 days later with a «late notice». The EMTs in the ambulance may be qualified but the company is frankly just an billing mill. AMR told me that Blue Shield denied payment of their claim so I called Blue Shield what AMR told me was a lie. The claim is not denied, it is pending receipt of claim information. In 8 months AMR has not been able to file a legitimate claim so now they are coming after me.
Watch out for this company. Avoid them.

AMR Medical Team. Great and professional.
Their bill. OUTRAGEOUS.
Their billing system. The WORSE.
Stick to Bayshore Ambulance if you have a choice or if you call 911, REQUEST Bayshore, not these guys.

These people are thieves. $ 3,300 for a 9 mile/​15 minute ride. And that’s all it was: a ride. Didn’t so much as take vitals, let alone administer medication. I shudder to think how much it would cost if they had to do something other than drive. How they justify that cost is beyond me. You’re way better off calling a cab no matter what your doctor tells you. NOTE: When you get the bill, call them to complain and they’ll knock 20% off. Still a rip-​off.

We had an emergency call on Glenn Way in San Carlos on 9-​5-​2015. The responding crew treated my wife with great respect and courtesy. She suffers from a chronic illness that occasionally causes her to need immediate assistance and transport to the hospital. After being well treated by the San Carlos fire crew, the AMR crew took her to Peninsula keeping her comfortable the entire way. The 2 young men deserve to be commended for their professionalism and we greatly appreciate such proficient help being in our community a phone call away. The training to become a paramedic is one thing but no one can train a person to have compassion and empathy. This crew had both and we are very thankful to them for not only their skill but their personal touch.
THANK YOU

I was getting on the dunbarton bridge this evening when I saw the San Mateo paramedics sitting on the side of the road about ¼ before a clearly visible accident on the bridge. Paramedics plus of alameda county had driven across the bridge from alameda county, turned around, and got to the accident before AMR did. It’s sad when an ambulance from another county can beat them to an accident in San Mateo. I guess they refuse to go on the bridge.

Alicia and Adam are Number 1 in my book, They took my Mom from SF Kaiser to St. Francis in Daly City, They took such Good Care and so Thoughtful about her Comfort, Thanks So a Much, Dan Boyd

OMG. the technitians are good. But the billing department. OMG. Over a year of back and forth. long story short 3800.00 for a bloody nose:(for a ½ hr ride To add insult to injury, they sent to collection dept. So now we have them hounding us and
we already paid it in full. If you do end up using the ambulance service and your insurance or VA doenst pay make sure to ask for a discount! I should have taken a taxi! unless you have a REAL 911 and have no choice but to go on a ride with them
or if you are VA you will need to be admitted into HOSPITAL and maybe Va pay some for you. If you or someone else can take you, like taxi. I would avoid at all costs!
literally!

I agree with most of the reviews. The one glowing review could have been written by the company’s PR Dept. The company is competent in delivering what it is supposed to do: emergency response and quick transport to a medical facility. Their charges are another matter, unjustifiably high and indefensible. I do not buy the argument that they need to charge high amounts to make up for those who won’t pay as the earlier writer suggested. If this were true, then insurance companies would cover those charges as they in general do pay for very high hospital charges. It appears that insurance companies generally do not honor AMR’s charges, as they are disproptionately higher than other similar services. Of course, if they have a monopoly contract, there is nothing we can do about it, or is there?

I recently thought I was having a heart attack. My wife called 911 and the fire department showed up with AMR within 5 minutes. I was impressed with the professionalism of the AMR staff. I almost had to call 911 again when I received their bill! My insurance company had paid them $ 750 which sounded reasonable but they wanted me to pay an additional $ 800. My insurance company had sent me a «heads up» letter warning me that I might receive a bill from them and advised me NOT TO PAY and to notify them if received such a bill. I notified my insurance company that I receive a bill from AMR and was told that they will «probably» cover the balance. I’ll keep you posted.

The following is regarding AMR of Modesto, Ca.
Seriously, this is the worst company I’ve ever dealt with. I called 911 last year as I had been vomiting and went into a-​fib. The paramedic was so unprofessional (he actually laughed at me) he continued to be rude after I entered the ambulance. Of course, he finally stopped when I asked his name and let him know that I was going to report him.
His unprofessionalism did not stop there as he did not administer oxygen (even though I was having a cardiac issue) and did not start an IV (even though I was dehydrated) very poor assessment skills to say the least. The transport was 3 miles and the bill was $ 2,500 which is OUTRAGEOUS. The paramedic did not medically treat me during the transport and was extremely rude.
I did report him to AMR’s corporate and local office speaking with his supervisor. I was never informed of the outcome. I told AMR I hope he does not continue to treat people this poorly or he is in the wrong profession.
AMR did not change the billing amount though as they are especially greedy. I think this company should be investigated.

This company billed us $ 7800 for a pre-​planned 29 mile ambulance ride from John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek to UCSF’s Long hospital in San Francisco. Their rates are so outrageous that even Blue Cross does not include them in their provider network. Their billing people are difficult to reach and unresponsive, and generally don’t do what they say they’re going to do. Avoid using this company if you have a choice. Their truck drivers, EMTs, and nurses are no better than anyone else’s. The ownership of this company is out to make a killing from people it thinks are desperate enough to pay anything for their service.

What can I say, yes they are expensive and yes the employees on occasion look a little worse for wear. But there aren’t many other people I would let take care of me. The bills can get outrageous. Some of it may be because of a greedy company. Some of it may be because an obscene amount of people abuse the 911 system. If anyone really knew how many people called for a 911 ambulance when they really needed a taxi they would be outraged. Multiple people call 911 on an almost daily basis because they «just want a ride.» Many of these people don’t actually have a medical complaint. But paramedics cannot refuse transport or treatment of an individual no matter how ridiculous the reason for the call is. An even higher number of people are just drunk on the street and are too much of a liability to leave alone or take to jail so guess where they end up? That’s right, in the back of an ambulance. Do you think they have any intention of paying their bill? A large amount of people with insurance are also shocked to find out that the insurance company wont cover an ambulance transport if it isn’t deemed medically necessary. Nontraumatic back pain/​the flu/​a migraine/​stubbed toe/​bad feeling/​broken arm/​nightmare/​tingling arm from sleeping wrong/​etc usually aren’t covered. The company has to pay their bills some how. Those ambulances are expensive to stock/​maintain/​insure. Those employees need a paycheck and they aren’t earning nearly enough for the jobs that they do.
The employees are over worked and under paid. They work 24 – 36 hour stretches and usually it’s not by choice. They are people just like everyone else. They get tired, they get sick and they get hurt. But they suck it up and keep working to make sure there are enough ambulances to cover the true emergencies.
Reviewing a company based on a 5 minute observation is just reckless. Yes the ambulance parked in a red zone. They park in the red zone to insure that they are able to quickly access their vehicle in the event of an emergency. The ambulances tend to not fit very well in standard parking spaces. People rarely even pull over when the lights and sirens are on, do you really think they will stop to let an ambulance pull out of a parking spot? I’m sure the employees hadn’t just rolled out of bed. But they might have looked like they did because while you were sleeping they were up driving all night. They also may have looked a little worse for wear because dealing with people is exhausting. Drunk people trying to kick you in the face is exhausting. Telling someone that their spouse of 50+ years has died is exhausting. Reassuring someone who is having a heart attack is exhausting. Comforting a victim of a violent crime is exhausting. If you want to be able to park in the red zone to buy a cup of coffee put yourself through EMT and Paramedic School or the fire academy. The rig # 03 – 032 is not an actual San Mateo AMR unit number. So your nasty review of this counties EMS professionals holds no grounds. That rig number is from a different county.
What I do know is that during the San Bruno Fire AMR San Mateo had a 300% increase in staffing within the first 2 hours. Many of those people worked for 48 hours straight. Many of those people ran towards the fire and evacuated houses. 2 of those employees not only ran towards the fire but they ran past the police barricades to make sure that my family made it out of their house because I hadn’t heard from them. And all of those employees would do it again. The AMR employees of this county are amazing. You would be lucky to have any one of them working on you or your loved ones.