EMSA Board Takes No Action Against CEO

The CEO of EMSA is still on the job despite claims in a lawsuit that he and the ambulance service took kickbacks.

It started as whistleblower case but now the US Attorney has joined the lawsuit against EMSA.

EMSA provides ambulance service in Tulsa, Sand Springs and Jenks.

The allegation is that Steve Williamson, the CEO, arranged for kickbacks to make sure a Texas company would get the contract to provide EMSA with paramedics.

EMSA's board is made up of people from the communities they serve and if the allegation is true, it means everyone paid more than they should have for the service.

The lawsuit claims as much as $20 million was overpaid from 1998-2013 when EMSA used "Paramedics Plus" to supply their employees.

In Stroud on Wednesday, the board met for the first time since the lawsuit was made public and after a two-hour private talk with their lawyers, the board took no action against Williamson.

The board and Williamson had a staff member relay what happened.

"Nothing has changed changed as the result of the meeting," said EMSA spokeswoman Kelli Bruer. "As s a result of the executive session, they did come through to appoint the chairman and vice chair of the board to oversee the pending litigation and to negotiate any pending settlements should there be one and bring that back to the board for approval."

The lawsuit was filed by the former COO of paramedics plus.

The government joined the case this week, alleging Medicare was overbilled to cover the kickbacks.

A different company now supplies paramedics for EMSA, at much lower cost than the former company.