The national Anti-Fraud Coalition (TAF Coalition) named former Escambia County EMS Medical Director Dr. Rayme Edler Whistleblower of the Year for 2024.

The nonprofit organization, which protects whistleblowers who expose fraud in the government and financial markets, selected her for the award from nominees around the country, saying in a press release: “Dr. Edler put her personal integrity first and had tremendous courage and determination to protect patients in Escambia County, Florida despite severe retaliation.”

Retaliation, they say, that came after Edler exposed massive and pervasive EMS training fraud, which she and others said put patients in danger, as well as “up-coded” service claims to more expensive ones than were actually provided.

“I was really surprised over the whole thing,” Edler said of the award in a phone interview with the News Journal. “I was humbled. It was definitely an honor.”

Why Dr. Rayme Edler faced retaliation over her work in Escambia County

Over the past several years, there were times, Edler said, when she couldn’t stop looking over her shoulder. Escambia County’s former medical director blew the whistle on the Emergency Medical Services division in June of 2018 for falsifying training certifications and putting people’s lives in danger as a result. By March 2019, an internal investigation into the issue was turned over to the Florida Department of Health.

The year-long state investigation that followed resulted in the arrests of five EMS...

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