Ambulance Billing Begins March 1
The borough expects to bring in hundreds of thousands in revenue from the implementation of third-party ambulance billing
Third-party ambulance billing, a potential cash cow for the borough that has been delayed since last summer, will commence on March 1.
In mid-January, the borough and third-party intermediary Revenue Guard EMS Claims Management signed a two-year contract with a one-year extension option, borough manager Tom Metzler said.
For Fair Lawn residents who utilize the ambulance service, the switch means precious little. Transport will remain free to residents as well as non-residents, whether they're insured or uninsured.
"At the end of the day, no resident should ever pay a bill from the borough of Fair Lawn for ambulance service," Fair Lawn Volunteer Ambulance Corps president Dan Furphy said back in October. "We never ever want any money from a resident."
The cost paid to the borough for ambulance transport -- hundreds of thousands of dollars annually -- will be borne entirely by residents' insurance carriers.
Under the new arrangement, third-party biller Revenue Guard will submit insurance claims of $675 plus $10 per mile for all individuals transported by the FLVAC, take a commission and then give the rest to the borough.
In October, then-Deputy Mayor Joe Tedeschi said communities similar in size to Fair Lawn that utilize third-party ambulance billing had brought in between $500,000 and $600,000 per year. In a best-case scenario, Furphy estimated Fair Lawn's third-party ambulance billing revenues at $800,000 annually.
The revenue generated goes only to the borough, not the ambulance corps -- which remains an independent and entirely volunteer organization dependent on resident donations to operate.
"Don’t think we are benefitting from the money," Furphy said. "The borough benefits and subsidizes other services in town. We’re just cooperating with the borough because it’s a revenue opportunity for them that doesn’t hurt anybody."
Because the switch to billing interferes with the state's willingness to pay for ambulance corps recertification training, the borough has agreed to support $5,000 in annual training costs going forward, Furphy said.
In the event that ambulance corps fund driving is negatively affected because of the third-party billing ordinance, the borough has agreed to make up the shortfall.
The original third-party ambulance billing ordinance passed last summer, but implementation was delayed because it ran afoul of federal law, which requires the borough make at least one attempt to collect from federally insured (i.e. Medicare, Medicaid, Disability) non-residents. The ordinance was revised to comply in October.
NolongerinKANSAS
10:24 am on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Call this a continuation of Chris Christies "dancin around the 2% cap", no food or beverages with that trip to the hospital.. This is disgusting and it seems to only get more and more gross as time moves forward. TAX TAX TAX, SPEND SPEND SPEND!
TomTHUMB
10:31 am on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Kansas, ur right, next the Borough of Fair Lawn will have their very own credit card so you can pay all their fees with a fixed interest rate. The bleeding of taxpayer monies never stops!
Chris Antonelli
10:42 am on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
And the revenue chase continues........... Adolpho is correct. We all pay in the end. And who determined a trip to Valley or HUMC was 675 + $10 per mile? Was that the typical "That's what everyone else......." bull**** we've gotten from the Council for years? Or did some genius in Fair Lawn pull those numbers out of their................
es
1:25 pm on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The Medicare reimbursement rate for ambulance mileage (HCPCS code A0425) is $7.03 in 2012. Commercial rates are higher, $10 sounds about right.
source: www.cms.gov
Chris Antonelli
10:49 am on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
And hey, I'd love to ask Ganz and Weinstein how those donations to build the Rec Center are coming along. And all those corporate functions to offset the costs.
Sorry Cos, I had to do it. Lol......
Chris Antonelli
10:52 am on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Hey, didn't Joe T say the Ambulance Corps was the centerpiece of the community? No, wait, it was the pool. Ummm, no, it was the post office. Damn, where did my scorecard go?????
Whatwilltheythinkofnext?
11:07 am on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Chris, I just checked Expedia.com, I think I can fly to Vegas and back roundtrip with casino coupons worth 200 buks cheaper that the Fair Lawn ambulance ride.
Chris Antonelli
11:21 am on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
LMAO!!! That's awesome. Road trip!!!!
Bruce Knuckle
11:36 am on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Where's the new councilmembers standing up saying this is ridiculous? Cosgrove, you volunteer, this is right? Peluso, Very silent are you?The borough profiting from a volunteer organization is just not right. NOTE to the BOE. Get in on this.... Lets call High School Sports a wellness program and bill the insurance companies for that too. This is Wienstein and Swain's legacy, destroying Fair Lawn!
Marty Cone
11:38 am on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Whatwilltheythinkofnext- you'll get there quicker too
Chris Antonelli
12:16 pm on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Marty,
The FLAC provides a great service to the residents of this town. I wouldn't knock them. They are there in a matter of seconds when I've called.
OvertaxedinFAIRLAWN
1:23 pm on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The Fair Lawn welcome packet addressing new Fair Lawn residents should now read, "Welcome to Fair Lawn, warning, if you feel sick and are in need of a free ambulance, drive over to the next town"!
TaxedandTaxedagain
1:38 pm on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Let me understand this, the Fair Lawn taxpayer paid for the ambulance building, the equiptment, the ambulances, the electric, the plumbing etc, as I understand it thru donations and property taxes. The volunteers are still providing their service for free, yet, the politicians are going to charge for oxygen and the ride to the hospital? Would this not be considered a tax upon a tax? Are we now double taxed? Who came up with this idea anyway?
Elizabeth Cox
2:52 pm on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
i called the FL amb once no twice actually 3 times and they never showed up! the 2 police in my kitchen had no explenation for it and finally had to call hackensack to come- 45 minutes later! this squad should be ashamed of themselves!
Citizen
1:01 pm on Thursday, January 26, 2012
Unfortunately, this is the norm during the daytime. The worst thing about Fair Lawn billing is that we are now paying for substandard service. By the way, EB, your insurance paid for the 3 trips with HUMC as they would with any of the other paid services that back up the volunteers.
Billing itself is not a bad thing for residents. Its been done in other towns for years (Ridgewood, Paramus) but those towns used their billing money to improve ambulance service by providing paid coverage when volunteers aren't available (usually weekdays) and by making the volunteers a department of the town so they could benefit from the income through free training and better equipment. The crime in Fair Lawn is that the Council is just doing a money-grab at the expense of the volunteers and not providing its "customers" (tax-payers) a better product for their money (an ambulance that arrives in 10 minutes or less 100% of the time)
CONFUSED
3:39 pm on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
am i missing something? i really dont know much about how health insurance so can someone please help me understand this:
"For Fair Lawn residents who utilize the ambulance service, the switch means precious little. Transport will remain free to residents as well as non-residents, whether they're insured or uninsured...
The cost paid to the borough for ambulance transport -- hundreds of thousands of dollars annually -- will be borne entirely by residents' insurance carriers."
to me this sounds like no money is coming out of the residents own pocket (once again i admit i dont know much about health insurance.) if the town will make money and transport remains free why is this a bad thgin? by the responses to this article im sure im missing something and would like to be informed on what.
also the article states: metzler said the contract was signed 2 weeks ago. so wouldnt that be under the new coucil and not the old one. i dont see why people are blaming this on tredeski and swain. if the new borough manager, mayor and council were against this couldnt they have not agrred to the contract 2 weeks ago?
Zak Koeske
2:54 pm on Saturday, January 28, 2012
@CONFUSED The new ambulance billing law is not expected to lead to an increase in insurance premiums or cost residents anything. Most health insurance plans already provide coverage for ambulance transport. The difference is that now the borough will be able to bring in revenue from the transaction.
Bruce Knuckle
7:26 am on Thursday, January 26, 2012
Confused,,,The contract may have been signed 2 weeks ago, but it needed council approval, which was done by the folks you mentioned last year.
FL1985
9:48 am on Thursday, March 1, 2012
No one has ever addressed how this will affect the mutual aid agreements that we have with our neighbors. Glen Rock and Elmwood Park ambulances are ofetn called to cover when Fair Lawn cannot get a rig out. Do we still collect money on behalf of these organizations? Have they entered into a profit sharing agreement with our boro? Also, what are the particulars of the contract which we signed? How much is Fair Lawn's cut? Unless we are getting 85% of the money collected (assuming the stated $500k in billing minimum) , Fair Lawn could have hired someone to work for the boro at $75k a year and handle this billing in-house. Something tells me that both the citizens of Fair Lawn and the Boro of Fair Lawn are getting shafted by the council on this issue.
Tommy P
10:28 am on Thursday, March 1, 2012
Its just another Repukagain Metlzer tax. They are trying to setup a reelection campaign for Baretta and Trawinski based on the idea that they didn't raise property taxes. Sorry, its time for plan b. Try cutting something.
@Zak, when insurance company's expenses go up, premiums go up. Sure it won't have a direct effect on premiums because you live in Fair Lawn, insurance isn't priced that way, but it will have a tiny impact on all insurance buyers in the region.
As for not costing residents anything. THAT'S COMPLETE BS. Have you ever heard of a deductible? Coverage limits/caps?
Zak Koeske
10:55 am on Thursday, March 1, 2012
@Thomas I don't believe there's any quantifiable way to measure whether Fair Lawn implementing ambulance billing will indirectly change insurance rates.
When this was proposed last year there was a lot of misinformation that existed and people thought they would be paying out of pocket each time they needed to use ambulance transportation, which is not true.
The main point that the borough and the ambulance corps wanted to get out was that residents need not worry about incurring costs when they call for an ambulance. This ordinance should not deter anyone from calling for help if they need it.
Tommy P
12:02 pm on Thursday, March 1, 2012
Zak, you're right its hard to quantify. Its the death by 1000 paper cuts approach, which cut killed the victim, the last one or the combination of all of them? Fair Lawn is joining other towns as just one of those injuries. Many other towns reinvest the money into improving response times, this is just another way to add to the budget to allow the inflated spending to continue.
As for not incurring costs, the borough really has no control over our deductibles and coverage limits. Sure they are not taxing those without coverage, and yes most people won't hit the caps, but to say no one will ever pay out of pocket is baloney.