Info sought on ambulance revenues

GARDNER— A committee that’s exploring the feasibility of the Fire Department staffing its own ambulance heard a presentation yesterday from a woman whose company collects bills for neighboring departments.

Carla VanderBaan, of Sutton-based Coastal Medical Billing, gave the committee food for thought when it considers whether to pursue staffing an ambulance. Coastal Medical Billing works with approximately 60 towns, including Winchendon, Westminster, Ashburnham and Templeton, to recoup bills from patients and insurance companies on behalf of the respective fire departments. The company negotiates a percentage of the revenue, ranging from 4 percent to 6 percent.

Ms. VanderBaan said her company averages a 90 percent collection rate and aggressively follows up on unpaid claims.

“You’re not going to get something on every single claim, and that’s the case throughout the industry,” she said.

Ms. VanderBaan suggested the committee get a sense of its demographics, because the age and type of insurance a patient has can dictate the amount the city will get paid. Medicare, for example, only pays a portion of the bill.

The committee will meet next week to review revenue estimates.

“If we can figure out the revenue side (how many calls we expect to have, what rate we’re charging and how much we’re going to generate) … we’ll have a starting point,” said City Auditor Calvin D. Brooks, a member of the city’s ambulance committee.

Mayor Mark P. Hawke put together the committee in August. The city has one of the only area fire departments that doesn’t have its own ambulance. Instead, the city relies on a private company and neighboring communities for basic and advanced life support services.

The Fire Department union has long advocated for an ambulance, which firefighters believe would ultimately pay for itself and generate money to pay for more staff.

The mission of the exploratory committee, however, is not simply to determine whether the city should buy and staff an ambulance. Another option, according to Mr. Hawke, is charging a private ambulance service to store vehicles on city property.

“It’s not to say this is all or nothing,” Mr. Hawke said. “Getting paid by a company that’s already doing this might be the best solution, or a means to an end. We could put the payments into a fund that could ultimately go toward start-up costs for our own service.”

Fire Capt. Robert W. Newton said he would ask to see the transport sheets from Woods Ambulance. At present, Woods responds to 911 calls in Gardner that require basic and advanced life support. The city doesn’t pay the company anything for its services, and doesn’t make anything off them, either.

Mr. Brooks said he would determine how many calls for basic life support services the city could expect to receive in a year, and factor in a base rate to estimate how much revenue the city could expect to make from its own service.

The committee will discuss the figures at 2 p.m. Oct. 14 in City Hall.