[Scan-DC] Mont Co EMS Revenue Recovery Plan

[Alan Henney]

Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service

Emergency Medical Services Revenue Recovery Plan

Directly Supports Emergency Service Delivery

‘EMS fee’ reimbursement will improve services - save lives!

NO cost to County residents

Montgomery County Fire Chief Richard Bowers and the men and women of
the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service continue to support a
proposal for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) transport billing and
revenue recovery.  The Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service is
committed to providing a cost effective and efficient public service
for emergency medical services and other life-safety services
furnished to our communities.

While this revenue recovery plan, which is more commonly known as the
EMS transport fee, would be new to Montgomery County, nearly every
other jurisdiction in the Washington and Baltimore region are
reimbursed for ambulance transport services.  Locally, the District of
Columbia, City of Baltimore, Prince George’s County, Frederick County,
Fairfax County, Arlington County, and the City of Alexandria, to name
a few, impose this charge as a form of revenue recovery.

In Montgomery County there will be NO change in current EMS service
delivery and therefore, there should be NO reluctance to call 911 for
any reason.

No one will ever be denied service based on ability to pay or whether
they have health insurance.  Again, there will be no change in current
EMS service delivery or response.  There will be no cost to County
residents.

In fact, most residents of Montgomery County have health insurance and
ambulance transport coverage is a standard covered service.  Indeed,
those patients have already paid for this coverage in their health
insurance premiums.

Insurance companies recognize that ambulance transportation is a
normal cost of patient care during medical emergency situations.  In
other words if you are insured, the fee will be charged directly to
your insurance company, making this proposal simply a seamless revenue
recovery process.  If a resident is uninsured and requires medical
transport, they will be transported at no charge and will not be
billed.

The County plan for emergency medical transport billing and revenue
recovery is organized in a way to minimize the impact on Montgomery
County residents.  Patient’s insurance companies will be billed
directly for ambulance transport services.  The Montgomery County Fire
and Rescue Service has been very clear in its determination to ensure
that public welfare is maintained and reinforced with this new
proposal.

Whenever a 911 call is made for help, the first priority will always
be to take care of that patient’s immediate medical needs.  If and
when deemed necessary the patient will be transported to the hospital
similar to how it is handled now.  If no transport is made, the EMS
fee will not be charged to the insurance company.  Again, there will
no change in current EMS service delivery.

The revenue from the proposed fee has the potential to keep the world
class Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service robust.  Fire Chief
Bowers believes that it is critically important to move forward with
this proposal especially in these challenging fiscal times since the
revenue recovery will net more than $14 million a year.  This revenue
will be dedicated to maintain, augment and substantiate our
first-class emergency fire and rescue services.

The funds will directly assist the combined (career and volunteer)
Fire and Rescue Service to meet the demands for fire apparatus and
equipment, including the acquisition of thirty new EMS units that are
in immediate need of replacement as well as associated maintenance and
replacement costs; provide critical infrastructure elements with
additional fire-rescue stations and staffing in the growing Upcounty
areas; career and volunteer staff and administrative support services
as well as incentives for county-wide volunteer opportunities;
renovated fire stations in all areas of the County; four-person
staffing of response equipment; and compensation and benefits for
firefighters and emergency medical technicians, among other things
will all be supported by the new revenue recovery process.

The Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service is a full spectrum life
safety agency protecting nearly 1 million people who live and work in
Maryland’s most populous jurisdiction.  The MCFRS is a combination
system (career/volunteer) made up of over 2,000 members comprised of
over 1200 career uniformed personnel and professional civilian staff,
over 1,000 of whom are emergency responders and an equal number of
volunteers, nearly half of whom actively participate in emergency
response. Operating with a budget of about $190 million, there are
forty fire and rescue facilities, including a 56 acre training
academy, state-of-the-art communication facility, as well as
thirty-five community fire and rescue stations strategically located
throughout  Montgomery County’s 500 square miles in the Washington,
D.C. metropolitan area.