County Begins Search For New EMS Billing Service
Fayette County Commissioners voted unanimously to begin searching for a new EMS billing provider.
Fayette County EMS currently contracts with the Kentucky-based company Ambulance Medical Billing (AMB). At a meeting on Thursday, July 22, Fayette County EMS Director Josh Vandever said his department has received “a fair amount of complaints” from patients about their bills.
“They get a bill that says Peducha, Kentucky on it, and it frustrates people who pay taxes in Fayette County and get billed out of Kentucky,” Vandever said.
Vandever asked Commissioners to explore the possibility of switching to a Texas-based company. Vandever said he has reached out to a few Texasbased companies.
“One of them projected to increase revenue by almost $200,000 a year,” he told the commissioners. “We’re wanting to at least explore who is out there in Texas and what they can provide to us, if you guys see its appropriate to do.”
County Judge Joe Weber asked Vandever whether he was looking for better service from a billing provider.
“Are we getting the best bang for the buck?” Weber asked Vandever.
“I don’t think we are,” Vandever said. “I think we’re paying a very low rate for billing services right now, but we’re getting low quality.”
Pct. 1 Commissioner Jason McBroom said the EMS billing provider should negotiate with insurance companies for better rates, something he said the current provider has not done.
“They need to go to each individual insurance company and renegotiate rates,” McBroom said. “That’s on their part to do, and it hasn’t been done in a long time.”
Vandever said he knows of one insurance company that pays $22 a mile for ambulance transport, yet Fayette County only charges $15 a mile.
“They’re very helpful and very nice people,” Vandever said of AMB. “But they don’t always have all the information we need.”
Commissioners voted unanimously to authorize the EMS Department and the Auditor’s Office to seek proposals from Texas-based billing companies.
In other EMS news, Commissioners authorized Vandever to purchase several pieces of new equipment that will eventually be paid for using grant funds. The equipment includes a stretcher and power load device, three CPR monitors and four transport ventilators. He said the new ventilators in particular will be a big improvement over the devices the department currently uses. He said the new ventilators lead to much better outcomes when used on patients who need help breathing during a medical emergency. Total cost of the new equipment was about $117,000.
Angela Hahn, the County’s grant specialist, said the County could pay for the new devices using money in the general fund and then get reimbursed through grant funds the county received for the COVID pandemic response.
Commissioners voted unanimously to authorise the purchases.