After extended discussion at its January meeting, the Callaway County Ambulance Board decided Tuesday night not to pursue a contract for patient demographic discovery services as a way to help increase the district's collection rate on old patient debt.
In January, Director Charles Anderson suggested the board consider entering into an information access agreement with Payor Logic.
Ultimately, the board agreed that might be a good solution to the unpaid debt problem, but asked Anderson to get quotes for similar service from other companies.
Anderson's initial report to the board - sent out in board packets before Tuesday night's meeting - included a recommendation to pursue an agreement with Medlytix. A representative Anderson spoke with had told him the company would get paid only a percentage of what the district was able to collect based off of the Medlytix data.
When Anderson requested a sample contract, however, it called for Medlytix to be paid a minimum of $2,500 each month.
After further reviewing the Medlytix proposal and information from the other companies, Anderson said he came to the conclusion he was, "not even sure at this point if this is something we're interested in pursuing."
"I'm not confident we'd get enough back out of it, the more research I do," he said. "Is it worth $2,500, $3,000? At the end of the day ... I think we should just continue doing what we're doing. Right now I think keeping billing in house is our best option."
In other business, the board approved a $127,560 contract with Osage Ambulance for a new Mercedes Type III Sprinter ambulance.
In January, the board had instructed Anderson to solicit bids for the new truck - the 2015 budget includes $130,000 for the purchase.
Osage Ambulance, from which the district has purchased its ambulances for a number of years, was the only company - of the three which Anderson sent the Request for Proposals - to submit a bid based on the district's specifications.
According to Anderson, AEV Ambulances did not reply to the request, and Demers Ambulances sent back a $132,819 quote for its generic Mercedes Type III Sprinter - not to the district's specifications.
The board voted unanimously to approve the Osage Ambulance bid.