JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department is responding to a new telehealth report from the Duval DOGE Committee, raising concerns about the feasibility of the RightSite program.<\/p>\n
The report, which supports expanding services through RightSite Health, was first reported by Action News Jax\u2019s Ben Becker on Monday<\/b><\/a> and was released on Tuesday.<\/p>\n >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n JFRD said vendor performance has been inconsistent, pointing to multiple canceled training sessions that have slowed implementation efforts.<\/p>\n READ FULL JFRD STATEMENT BELOW:<\/b><\/p>\n According to the department, a core issue lies in the gap between telehealth services and public expectations during emergencies. When people call 911, they typically expect immediate, in-person medical care. <\/p>\n RELATED: <\/b>Duval DOGE to look into city\u2019s telehealth provider<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Officials say the RightSite model represents a significant shift from that expectation and could lead to confusion without extensive public education.<\/p>\n JFRD also highlighted operational challenges, including limited service hours, technological barriers for patients, and workflow complications for first responders. <\/p>\n RELATED: <\/b>Jacksonville\u2019s top health official defends city\u2019s embattled Telehealth provider<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n The program currently operates from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., Monday through Friday, which does not align with the department\u2019s 24\/7 emergency response model.<\/p>\n In addition, JFRD addressed concerns raised about its medical director, Dr. Bradley Elias. <\/p>\n 2021 STORY: <\/b>Former top-ranking city of Jacksonville leaders with ties to mayor taking jobs with city clients<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n The department stated that ethics officials and the city\u2019s Office of General Counsel previously reviewed and cleared Elias of any conflict of interest in December related to his role as an emergency room physician at Baptist Hospital. <\/p>\n DOGE raised concerns about his role in the report, seemingly unaware of the previous review. <\/p>\n City pushes back on DOGE findings<\/b><\/p>\n Meanwhile, the City of Jacksonville is pushing back against the broader findings of the Duval DOGE Committee<\/b><\/a>, which in a draft report criticized the city\u2019s current telehealth provider, Telescope Health. <\/p>\n The report claims the city is wasting approximately $2 million annually on the program and suggests similar services could be obtained for free through RightSite Health.<\/p>\n City Councilman Rory Diamond, who led the investigation, questioned the city\u2019s role in healthcare delivery.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: <\/b>Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/b><\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s the city\u2019s job to be involved in people\u2019s health care,\u201d Diamond said.<\/p>\n The committee also explored allegations that Telescope Health may have committed Medicare or Medicaid fraud<\/b><\/a>, though the report ultimately found no proof to support those claims<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n The city also points out the Telescope Health contract was awarded through an open RFP process that received three competitive bids, which RightSite Health did not participate.<\/p>\n Conflict of interest?<\/b><\/p>\n The city is also raising issues involving city council hiring the Burr & Forman law firm to review the city\u2019s telehealth options. Former general counsel Jason Gabriel<\/b><\/a> is a partner and worked on behalf of the RightSite Health on its agreement with JFRD. <\/p>\n According to invoices obtained by Action News Jax, Gabriel\u2019s law firm billed the city $37,831 for work on the DOGE report<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n The mayor\u2019s office describes Gabriel\u2019s role as a \u201cglaring conflict of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: <\/b>Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/b><\/a>] <\/b><\/p>\n The city also references Becker\u2019s reporting that former JEA board chair Bobby Stein and former Chief of Staff Kurt Wilson were offered equity stakes in RightSite Health. <\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear if Wilson accepted, but according to Gabriel, who now represents Stein, said in a statement \u201cAll reporting of financial interests required of Mr. Stein were done so in accordance with the law.\u201d<\/p>\n What comes next<\/b><\/p>\n The Duval DOGE Committee has indicated it may attempt to defund the Telescope Health contract in the future. Members voted to revise the draft and submit a final report at a later date.<\/p>\n Click here<\/b><\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/b><\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department is responding to a new telehealth report from the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[7320,5229,7323,16470,163583,3188,723,7324,7310,7327,7325,318088,7326,200556,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,7322,7321],"class_list":{"0":"post-776354","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-action-news-jax","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-cbs47","11":"tag-doge","12":"tag-duval-doge-committee","13":"tag-fl","14":"tag-florida","15":"tag-fox30","16":"tag-jacksonville","17":"tag-jacksonville-fl","18":"tag-northeast-florida","19":"tag-rightsite-health","20":"tag-southeast-georgia","21":"tag-telescope-health","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-united-states-of-america","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-usa","28":"tag-wfox","29":"tag-wjax"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116525484408018687","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=776354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=776354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=776354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}