Gold Cross Ambulance Services

I recently had to use their emergency services. I was a little loopy in my experience. But during my ride. Deborah was a fabulous representative for Gold Cross. She was patient and calming during my troubled time. She deserves a 5 star recommendation

Unfortunately my husband has required the services of Gold Cross 3 times. Each time the paramedics and the Gold Cross team worked together to care for my husband and get him safely to the ER. In October 2017 a billing concern came up from a service date of August 2016 and the billing team at Gold Cross was able to timely resolve the issue and was very professional dealing with the mistake of my health insurance company. Hopefully I won't be needing their services in the future but I would not hesitate to invite them into my home if needed.

This review is for Patti N. I had some confusion regarding my bill, Patti was very friendly and even though she herself couldn't help me with the problem, she contacted the person who could and helped me get the problem solved. Even calling me back and explaining the issue. She went above and beyond and made solving the problem so much easier.

Good job......................................... Edited 5Sep.....................As long as you employ people with low moral values your ratings will drop. The only reason to illegally draw blood was to hopefully find something to clear the police from an accident with sevear injuries.
Payne

Thanks for helping me in a difficult situation, keeping me safe, healthy, and talking with me the whole way to the hospital, I will never forget this experience, your team did a great job!

Friendliest people I have ever met. Truly care about the care of the people of Utah.

Great place, all about helping others in their time of need.

Let me help you negotiate your bill with golden cross. Like this post if this is helpful to get a better customer experience.

1. File a complaint or an appeal with your insurance provider
2. Call them and they will put a hold on the bill and not let it accrue interest.
3. Let some time go by golden cross will start to worry that they aren’t going to get paid, and remember if it goes to collection from their perspective they rarely get 100% of the amount they send to collections, so they don’t know how much collections will get or if they will collect anything or how long it will take to get paid.
4. Knowing the time value of money golden cross wants to get paid SOONER and getting a sure fire payment.

5. Call golden cross back up and say look you went back and forth with your insurance you would like to take care of this now… the person on the phone follows a set script let me know you how to help yourself.
5a. They will offer a payment plan. Refuse this. Don’t ask say something strong like “that’s not going to work for me I had no choice in ambulance provider and this wasn’t an ideal customer experience”. What can you do for me, discount wise to settle this now?
5b. The first person on the phone countered with a 20% discount if I paid it right now.
5c. That’s not their best offer counter with them and say look if you do X% off I’ll pay right now otherwise, I’m going to file a complaint with the hospital and then I have 180 days to appeal my insurance claim and I’ll see what happens (meaning you are willing to walk and they wait another 180 days to).
5d. Tbey will go to a manager and let you know if they are willing to accept that percentage off and square away your bill.

You can still appeal with your insurance and if they pay you will get reimbursed.

Not ideal but hopefully this helps some people. Like it if it was usefull information so it helps orhers.

And thanks again golden cross for working with us! The ambulance ride itself was very pleasant and the employees are very professional!

You get stars because I did not die.

Don't use an ambulance service unless you know you need medical attention quicker than you can get yourself to an ER. We've been stuck with expensive bills twice from this company and don't feel like we got reasonable value either time.

The first time, I called 911 for an emergency my wife was having. After taking to the police about the situation, I drove to the hospital, about three miles away. I beat the ambulance by about ten minutes. I found out later from the ER staff that they didn't have to do much for the situation, and that the ambulance staff likely did little more than serve as an expensive chauffeur. To the tune of about $1700, I might add.

The second time, we were victims of Utah Valley Hospital's questionable decision to send her to Logan Regional via ambulance. This cost $5000, and again, about all they did was the transportation.

They aren't shy about sending you to collections, either, making an impact on your credit score. You know, so they get theirs. It's a scam, really. Again, only use an ambulance when you're certain driving yourself isn't going to be good enough!

Did a decent job but a $2 convenience fee to use a credit card for payment seriously? Lets move in to the 21st century please.

This company is horrible. My mother is in a coma, on hospice and has no money. I have tried multiple times to fill out their financial aid forms for my mother but they keep denying her. . She has end stage Alzheimer’s, no insurance and is actively dying. They could easily give her a 0$ balance but choose to abuse a dying elderly woman.
There is a special place in hell for the manager.

You people are the worst of the worst rats in a society of civilized people. Y’all prey on the low income citizens of this state the disrespect you people had for me and my insurance agent while we were just trying to figure out how to take care of my bill. Thank goodness to the employees at west valley city hall attorneys office for helping me out they made you people look like complete clowns. If anyone ever has an emergency find another way to the hospital don’t bother with these vultures!

My insurance company paid Gold Cross $1642 (out of $1825 originally billed). It was only AFTER Gold Cross tried to separately bill my son (recuperating from a psychiatric illness) for the remaining $185 (and would not budge or offer any discount) that I did some research.

I called Gold Cross and asked who they were in network with. I was told there is only one insurance company, which is PEHP (for State of Utah employees). They also contract with BCBS, but for "supplies only."

Think for a moment about any other provider. Hospitals and clinics contract with many insurance companies because that's how they receive most of their income. But Gold Cross (who also does billing for many municipal ambulance services) chooses NOT to contract with insurance companies. Why is this?

When an insurance company contracts with a provider, the rates are negotiated so the provider can make a reasonable profit according to "reasonable and customary" rates across the industry. Providers are motivated to accept these "reasonable and customary" rates from insurance companies because consumers have a choice, and if providers don't accept them, patients might look elsewhere for healthcare.

What happens when patients DON'T have a choice—say in the area of emergency transport/ambulance services? In this case a provider has NO incentive to contract with insurance companies, because they know that 1) reimbursement would be lower, and 2) when there is no agreement with the insurance company, they can charge everyone high out-of-network rates, increasing their profits precisely because ambulance transport is an emergency service for which people don't have a choice.

In Utah ambulance transport is regulated somewhat like a utility because people don't have a choice. But this also works to the ambulance companies' advantage. In this case, Gold Cross gets to say, truthfully, that "ambulance transport fees are set by the State of Utah." What they don't tell you is how that arrangement benefits them, leading to higher fees for Utah citizens and providing a HUGE disincentive for ambulance services to contract with insurance companies, as is standard practice everywhere else in the healthcare sector.

There's a reason it's called "Gold Cross." They get the gold, and their patients bear the cross of inordinately expensive emergency transportation. Gold Cross COULD contract with insurance companies for in-network services and rates like everyone else. Their decision not to is all about placing PROFIT ahead of consumer interests of service and affordability.

As the preponderance of one-star reviews attests, complaining to Gold Cross will likely get you nowhere. Feel free to reach out to the State of Utah officials (see attached) who may not be aware of how their policies benefit private, for-profit ambulance companies, at HUGE EXPENSE to Utah residents. Gold Cross could be directed to contract with insurance companies, among a hundred other possible remedies. But nothing will change until change is mandated from the top.

My husband has brain cancer. Gold Cross ambulance is refusing to properly bill this charge to the insurance after almost a year of back and forth. Terry won't call me back after repeated calls. Office Personelle Chantelle has been unhelpful, refuses to give the phone or email of Terry or Trevor Wells. I have spent hours trying to resolve with no resolution or assistance.

They keep sending us a bill for transport that is to be paid by insurance. I won't be paying them a dime. When we were transported from the airport to the childrens hospital, the ambulance we were in didn't even have working electricity! Our respiratory therapist had to hand bag our vent dependent infant all the way from the airport to the hospital. Should not be billed for a service that didn't function properly. They also won't do their job and contact insurance. They want the patients family to be the middle man, as if we don't have enough to deal with already. Very poor service. Billing department= 0 stars!

Worst billing period. They billed my primary insurance fairly quick but 2 months later they are still struggling to file a claim with my other insurance. They don't seem to have the same problem sending me the bill though.

Front line staff providing survive is wonderful and provide amazing service. If only the billing department could do the same.

Pray you don't end up in an ambulance with these guys or UFA (unified fire authority) who they do the billing for. Absolute incompetence. Didn't get a single bill on file with my payer and sent me to collections despite multiple calls. I even got my payer to agree to hand process the claim if I gave them a copy - they couldn't even get me that. "Talk to the collections company". Complete jerks, need to be out of business.