DELAWARE — The city of Delaware’s search for an emergency medical services billing vendor moved like an ambulance — fast.
Council approved an agreement with Cincinnati-based EMS billing company Medicount Management on Monday.
According to a city facts sheet on the legislation, the approval comes after the county “unilaterally opted to end a decades-long mutual agreement whereby it provided funding reimbursement to the city for shared EMS services provided.”
The “decades-long mutual agreement” with the county brought in about $1 million in revenue for the city, and the new agreement with Medicount is set to offset that amount.
The facts sheet adds that the agreement has a four-year term, with Medicount’s compensation “generally based on 4.75% of EMS revenues collected.”
“[Medicount] does already have a strong presence in Delaware County as they serve as the EMS billing provider for Liberty Township, Orange Township, Concord Township, the city of Westerville, as well as Genoa Township,” said Cindy Collins, a procurement specialist in the city’s finance department.
The city had previously discussed insurance-only billing, soft billing and hard billing methods, but settled on insurance-only billing for city residents.
“[Medicount’s billing services] would be insurance-only billing for Delaware residents and Delaware employees,” Collins said.
“In order to maintain a Jan. 1 start date, we would want to proceed with onboarding tasks and duties while council … continues to evaluate billing practices.”
Council also heard a separate ordinance’s first reading on Monday that would establish the city’s entire billing policy. Beyond the insurance-only billing policy previously explained, the ordinance only proposes soft billing.
“Individuals who do not qualify for insurance-only billing will be subject to a soft-billing approach. The city will seek available insurance reimbursement and may issue statements for remaining balances,” another facts sheet states.
The document adds that the city will not pursue litigation, collection agencies or credit reporting for unpaid balances, except when required by law, with a proposed soft billing system.
The proposed billing policy states that no individual will be denied or delayed EMS based on where they live, what their insurance or financial status is or their ability to pay.
Council will hold a second reading for its EMS billing policy ordinance during its Nov. 23 meeting.
