VIDALIA, La. – If Med Express dropped a lawsuit it filed against Riverland Medical Center over who pays for transporting noninsured patients, it would be in violation of federal kickback laws, a Med Express official said Tuesday.

The lawsuit is an issue because, on Monday, the Concordia Parish Police Jury voted to delay issuing an occupational license to Med Express until it can get an attorney general’s opinion on whether the jury can issue a license to a company suing a political subdivision of the parish.

But Ray Majors, co-owner of the ambulance company, said the company has no choice but to sue the Ferriday hospital. On April 20, Med Express filed suit against Riverland in Seventh Judicial District Court, charging that the hospital owed the company $40,087 for transporting non-insured patients in cases Medicare and Medicaid would not cover.

In the complaint, Med Express alleged the hospital is liable for those costs.

&uot;If we don’t attempt to get payment, … if we make deal with them and, in essence, say ‘give us your Medicaid and Medicare trips and we’ll do the others for free, that’s perceived (by the federal government) to be a kickback, and it’s illegal,&uot; Majors said.

But Jim Graves– Natchez manager of American Medical Response, the only existing parishwide ambulance service — said Riverland owes AMR no money. That, he said, is because a hospital is only responsible for transport costs when a patient needs to go to another facility to receive services not available at the first hospital.

&uot;When a patient is being transferred to get a higher level of care, the hospital’s not responsible for those costs, and the ambulance does have to take (the patient),&uot; Graves said. &uot;But we’re not going to refuse to transport someone. But we know we’re only going to get paid for 60 to 65 percent of the services we provide. The rest of that cost, we eat. It’s the nature of the beast.&uot;

Riverland attorney&160;Norman Magee would not comment on the Med Express lawsuit. The next step in that case will be a Sept. 7 hearing on whether, as Riverland asserted in court documents, Med Express’ claims are too vague and should be dismissed.

Before Monday’s vote, Assistant District Attorney Madaline Gibbs, the jury’s legal adviser, said that, to her understanding, if Med Express has all its paperwork in order and submits it to the District Attorney’s Office for approval, the jury would have no choice but to grant the permit.

&uot;The D.A.’s Office is actually the one that makes that decision. Our visit to the jury Monday night was just a courtesy call,&uot; said Majors, adding that he expects to file the necessary paperwork with the District Attorney’s office sometime this week.

Gibbs &uot;said that she thought that was the way it was, but she didn’t know for sure,&uot; said Juror Tommy &uot;Red&uot; Tiffee, who made the motion to delay consideration of the permit until the jury got an attorney general’s opinion on the matter.

&uot;We don’t know, and that’s why we’re asking the A.G.’s office. It’s nothing against Med Express — competition is good. We just don’t want to get into any legal trouble.&uot;

Gibbs could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

As it stands, AMR is the only ambulance provider in Concordia parish besides the Vidalia Fire Department, which primarily serves those inside that town’s limits. Med Express stopped service to Concordia Parish in August 1999 but announced last month its intention to reenter the parish.

It did so –said Med Express co-owner Mark Majors, Ray Major’s son — partly because of reports that AMR was going to go out of business soon.

&uot;That’s absolutely untrue,&uot; said Marijo Rymer, vice president of corporation communications for Aurora, Colo.-based AMR. She acknowledged that parent company Laidlaw announced one year ago that it would attempt to sell AMR, among other assets.

Rymer acknowledged that Laidlaw had originally set Aug. 31, the end of its fiscal year, as the deadline for the AMR sale. But she added that such a sale is not yet in the works.

&uot;And under no circumstances will we exit any markets because of the issue of the Laidlaw sale,&uot;&160;she added. &uot;We have plenty of resources to continue to meet our obligations to the community we serve.&uot;

Even if Med Express gets its occupational license, which will be considered at the jury’s Aug. 28 meeting, the Concordia Parish 911 Communications Board will have to vote on adding Med Express to the parish’s 911 rotation.

Local AMR officials have said there are not enough 911 ambulance calls to go around — about 50 calls a month, according to Graves.

But Majors said that should not be a concern. &uot;If your baby’s choking, you’re not concerned about whether there are enough calls or not,&uot; he said. &uot;This is a service to the public.&uot;