There’s some confusion over subscription drives in Charleroi and surrounding communities for EMS service.

Robert Stark of Rostraver-West Newton EMS attended Charleroi’s agenda meeting Wednesday to discuss a concern recently brought to light by members of council and residents regarding subscriptions to its service.

“There has been a subscription drive from Mon Valley EMS,” Councilman Larry Celaschi said. “They are soliciting right now in competition with our voted-on ambulance provider. This is very deceiving. Some people are very confused over it.”

EMS • A7 FROM A1 Several Mon Valley communities switched emergency service providers in the past year, citing concerns with staffing and response times.

Charleroi was the first community to make the switch.

Rostraver-West Newton took over as the borough’s primary EMS service provider on June 28, 2022.

As part of that decision, Rostraver-West Newton agreed to honor already-paid subscriptions to Mon Valley EMS in order to allow for a smooth transition. That grace period ended Wednesday.

Stark said the agency’s subscriptions run through the last day of February and begin anew March 1.

Subscriptions cover costs after deductibles have been met and services are billed through insurance.

Co-pays, offsets and details are fully covered through a subscription with an EMS agency. Rostraver-West Newton began to send subscription mailers to residents in the communities they cover in time for their new service year. Soon after, they began to field calls from residents who were confused about which agency they should pay and why they had received more than one envelope requesting payment or renewal.

“When we put this all together (in June) everyone already had a subscription with Mon Valley EMS,” Stark said. “We honored anyone who had a membership without question. But as of today (Wednesday) the new membership with Rostraver EMS has officially started.”

Stark said Charleroi residents should have received a large envelope with a smaller envelope inside to fill out and send back to the agency, as well as a stub to keep for their records and a flier with all the services the subscription offers.

“We have been getting calls to our office as to who people should pay,” Stark said. “People are calling saying, ‘We paid the ambulance service.'”

When they ask which service, they are told Mon Valley EMS. “We don’t honor Mon Valley EMS subscriptions now,” Stark said. “What I want to clarify is, I hate for people to send money to Mon Valley EMS when they are not the provider for this borough.”

After Charleroi made the switch last June, Speers, Twilight, Dunlevy, North Charleroi and Fallowfield followed over the next few months.

North Belle Vernon also switched from dual-service EMS coverage to a single-service provider, selecting Rostraver-West Newton as its primary coverage.

Stockdale and Allenport also cut ties with Mon Valley EMS. “Right now we go from California the entire way on this side of the river to the Monongahela line,” Stark said. “We are not here to put anyone down, but we are here to provide a service and to put it out to the public that if they are paying Mon Valley, you are paying the wrong subscription. I would hate for people to have to fight to get their money back.”

Stark went over the Rostraver-West Newton subscription packet and what residents should look for.

“I just want people to be aware so they are not wasting money,” he said. “This is mainly concerning for senior citizens or someone on disability who does not have the money to pay twice. We don’t know how or why this started. We just want to curb it before it goes too far.” Celaschi requested that the borough draft a letter to Mon Valley EMS to disclose who has paid a subscription to the company for the new service year and to ask that anyone who has done so is properly reimbursed. The borough agreed to send the letter and to post relevant information on its social media pages so residents can be informed.

In a conversation with the Mon Valley Independent Thursday, Karen Newman, Mon Valley EMS Supervisor, said her agency did send subscription mailers to those who were already subscribed with her agency.

“They have been calling for us to send them,” she said. “There is nothing stating that we can’t send out subscriptions.”

Newman said Mon Valley EMS has also fielded a lot of calls recently, primarily from residents who don’t want to switch.

“It’s the citizens,” she said. “We were overwhelmed by phone calls from long-time subscribers, people who have been subscribed with us for more than 20 years. They say they want to stay with Mon Valley EMS.”

Newman said she explained the situation to callers regarding recent switches in service and all that has transpired over the past year.

“I explained everything to them, the whole thing, and (said) that if they are to be transported by Rostraver the subscription will be honored in the same way.”

While that was initially true during a transitional period, as confirmed by Rostraver-West newton, it is no longer the case. Stark said Rostraver-West Newton won’t honor other EMS subscriptions as of Wednesday. “Anyone that was a member of Mon Valley EMS we honored up to our new subscription period,” Stark said.

Newman said she was never informed the agency would no longer honor those subscriptions, citing other agreements. “We were never told of that,” she said. “There are reciprocating agreements. If that is the case, what would happen if they are called in to back us here in Monessen, if we are on another call and vice versa.”

Stark said those types of arrangements he believes Newman is referencing are covered through mutual aid requests, and are different than subscriptions paid to an agency of record as dispatched initially by 911. “If we call for help, or mutual aid, those subscriptions are honored no matter what,” Stark said. “This is something entirely different and we just want people to be informed.”