Trustees
to bill insurance for EMS
By Virgil Hervey
The Miami Township Trustees voted at their Sept. 17 meeting to approve
a proposal from the Miami Township Fire-Rescue leadership to bill insurance
companies for EMS runs.
At an earlier meeting Fire Chief Colin Altman had asked the trustees
to consider billing as a part of a larger proposal to cure an on-going
paramedic staffing shortage.
The plan the trustees approved calls for “insurance only billing,”
in which bills would be sent directly to the patient’s medical
insurance provider. Any deductible or co-payments would be waived for
township residents, so they would never pay anything out of pocket.
The bill for uninsured township residents would also be written off.
As for non-township residents, soft-billing would be applied, meaning
that, if a bill was not paid after three notices, it would be written
off.
The plan calls for the trustees to sign a contract with Medicount Management,
a company that specializes in billing for EMS runs. Medicount will take
care of the paperwork for 8 percent of what they collect.
At their Aug. 20 meeting, the trustees voted to approve the department’s
plan to hire additional paramedics. However, they postponed a decision
on billing for EMS runs pending further review of a proposal for use
of the additional funds that would be generated by the plan.
At that time Altman proposed a combination of a paramedic on-call program
with part-time supplemental staffing. His plan calls for using paid
part-time paramedics to supplement the staff on overnight shifts when
there is no volunteer paramedic on call.
Altman estimated that the total annual cost of the proposed paramedic
staffing would be $35,800. He estimated that billing for runs would
raise $138,000–163,000 per year. At the Sept. 17 meeting, he presented
the trustees with an updated strategic plan, specifying the areas where
the increased funds are needed.
The trustees left open for future discussion the matter of how the additional
revenues will be allocated, pending a review of the updated strategic
plan. Under current Ohio law, these funds can only be used for EMS expenses.
According to Altman, MTFR is the last department in Greene County to
go to EMS billing. Both he and the trustees expressed their concern
that the community might not understand that under this plan they will
not have any out-of-pocket expense, in the event they have to call for
an ambulance. The money is already there with the insurance companies,
Altman said. By tapping into it, the township will save on taxes.
In other township business:
• The trustees approved payment of bills in the amount of $22,128.50
as follows: general, $4,464.64; fire, $14,544.86; road and bridge, $3,119.
• Altman reported that there had been 33 EMS and 23 fire runs
in the two weeks since the last meeting. He noted that EMS calls continue
to be up over previous years by about 8 percent.
• Altman said that the part-time paramedic positions that were
approved at the Aug. 20 meeting had been posted. The positions are advertised
at $11.96 per hour. The posting closes on Oct. 5. He is hoping to hire
up to 10 people, he said, and anticipates no shortage in the number
of qualified applicants.
• Trustee Chris Mucher said the Grinnell Mill would be ready for
occupancy in 30 days and the management committee has narrowed the search
for a live-in manager to one applicant. The committee will make its
recommendation to the Mill Foundation.
Contact: vhervey@ysnews.com
