To the editor:, I am appalled that the township committee approved contracting with Robert Wood Johnson EMS for Emergency Medical Services, subjecting residents to the forces of hostile takeovers, exorbitant in-network and out-of-network medical bills and totally unproven emergency response times and service. The township committee passed this resolution after hours of testimony from the public, who appealed to the township to stay with the Hillsborough Rescue Squad/HEMS. Testimony came from many EMS professionals from all over Somerset County and residents whose lives were saved by their current hometown service. But while the township committee was calling this an “emotional issue for some,” they were actually leaving out a lot of facts:, At the March 16 meeting of the township committee, resident Robert McDonell asked Township Attorney William Willard, “are you counsel for any other towns that may have gone through this?” Willard’s answer? “No.” However, Mr. Willard was township attorney for Green Brook in 2015 when that township, which had earlier outsourced their 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. EMS to RWJ, needed to change their coverage to 24/7/365 when their volunteer squad lost members. They received an estimate from RWJ for a cost of $250,000-$500,000 a year for this service. Green Brook chose a shared service with North Plainfield instead for no cost. Note this is a 4.4 square mile township, less than one tenth the size of Hillsborough! When Willard was asked at the March 28 meeting why he answered no to this question, he seemed to have no recollection of being asked or what happened. How would he not know who he represents? Why wouldn’t Green Brook’s experience bear sharing?, At the March 28 meeting, Committeeman Frank DelCore insisted this was a fair process. However, the consultant study by Fitch in 2014 included a disclaimer that a Fitch affiliate provides management services under contract for RWJ EMS. The township should have recognized that Fitch benefits from expansions of service at RWJ, but they stayed with Fitch. Then, the report states that information was recently provided to the township by RWJ regarding the provision of basic life support services in Hillsborough.“The Consultant has spoken with RWJUH officials who confirm their interest in becoming Hillsborough Township’s BLS provider. They stand by their original proposal of requiring zero subsidy…and would bill third party payers and users of the services.” If this proposal was already made in 2014, was it done in person or by phone, by and to whom, and was it before and/or during this consultancy? And why did a consultant that was supposed to evaluate our current services recommend another service for whom they worked? Why won’t the township committee answer these questions? Maybe because what they should have done as soon as this was disclosed, was to walk away. But instead, they continued with an apparently tainted process. This was followed by an RFP that excluded all providers who didn’t have their own PSAP dispatch system, which only RWJ had., On March 28, the Hillsborough Rescue Squad’s attorney alleged that the proposal from RWJ may have violated the federal anti-kickback statute because of the provision of free services to capture hospital revenue from patients transported. Additionally, Committeeman Greg Burchette was mentioned as having business and financial interest in this process due to his ties to RWJ EMS through his vehicle repair business. Shouldn’t Mr. Burchette have disclosed the potential conflict, and recused himself from all deliberations? Regrettably, he actually made the made the motion to contract with Fitch for their study in 2014, and made the motion to approve the RFP issuance as part of a consent agenda in 2016., I really do not appreciate being told by the township committee that this is an “emotional” issue for residents. This was a decision that required facts, transparency, honesty and freedom from conflict of interest, which unfortunately seem to be in short supply with our current township committee., Meryl Bisberg, Hillsborough
