B & C in the news

Defunct Ambulance Service Sues Newton, Morristown Hospitals

BYLINE: MICHAEL DAIGLE, DAILY RECORD

A defunct Sparta-based ambulance service that once supplied transportation for critically ill patients from Newton Memorial Hospital to Morristown Memorial Hospital Has filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against both hospitals, claiming it was forced out of business following a new ambulance contract between the hospitals with a service created by Atlantic Health.

Med Alert Ambulance Inc., in a suit filed in U.S. District Court in Newark, alleged that, in 2001, Atlantic Health System Inc., parent company of Morristown Memorial, formed a new ambulance company, Atlantic Ambulance Corp., and created a monopoly ambulance service that forced Newton and other area community-based hospitals to shun Med Alert, said attorney David W. Kesselmand of the Los Angles law firm Blecher & Collins, which is representing Med Alert.

Med Alert is seeking compensatory damages, interest, court costs and other relief the court could award. The suit claims interference with a contract, interference with prospective economic advantage and breach of contract.

Kesselman said the suit claims that ambulance contracts with Atlantic Ambulance made it clear that treatment for patients at Morristown Memorial was conditional upon the sending hospital sending Atlantic Ambulance for transportation. The suit called it a "tying arrangement" that "unilaterally barred community-based hospitals, physicians and patients from independently choosing specialty care transport ambulance services that provide hospital-to-hospital transpiration of critically ill patients, "said Maxwell M. Blecher, Med Alert’s principal antitrust attorney.

Specialty care ambulances require two EMTs and a registered nurse on board when carrying patients because of the critical nature of their illness, Kesselman said. Atlantic’s actions essentially cut Med Alert out of a service that made up to 80 percent of its business, he said.

Joan Lebow, communications director for Atlantic Health System, said the company would not comment on the suit.

She said Morristown Memorial, as a regional medical center and one with advanced cardiology care, often is a choice for heart patients and their doctors. She said the choice to be transferred to Morristown Memorial from a smaller hospital is made by the patient and the doctor.

Brian Grace, spokesman for Newton Memorial, said the hospital also would not comment on the suit, which ahs been sent to the hospital’s attorneys. Grace said Newton Memorial and Atlantic agreed to and ambulance contract after Newton’s contract with Med Alert expired.

Med Alert was founded in 1986 by Kate Concannon, a licensed practical nurse. The company made 18,000 transports a year, mainly to and from hospitals and nursing homes. The services operated 30 vehicles, including several specialty ambulances. The services donated $5,000 to the Newton Memorial building fund and, on Sept. 11 2001, provided seven ambulances with 16 personnel. The company was the EMS Provider of the Year for the State of New Jersey in 2002.