Ambulance board considers solution to pursuing bad debt

The Callaway County Ambulance District, like many similar medical service providers, sometimes has issues collecting payment for those services.

At the end of the year, some of the oldest unpaid accounts get written off as bad debt - $750,000 worth in 2014. During Tuesday night's meeting, the Board of Directors discussed a possible solution to help get some of that money back.

CCAD Director Charles Anderson suggested the board consider entering into an information access agreement with Payor Logic, a company that provides patient demographics, payment likelihood, financial assistance and Medicaid screening, eligibility and insurance discovery.

Anderson said the district's biggest challenge when it comes to bill collection is self-pay patients - those who are uninsured.

"The big majority of these patients end up written off as bad debt," Anderson said.

He said one of the contributing factors to the difficulty in collecting on those accounts is inaccurate data regarding addresses and other contact information and insurance information.

"We don't have a lot of ways to check if that information is accurate," Anderson said. "This company helps address that by allowing us access to multiple data services."

The cost for those services through Payor Logic would be $4,259 for the first year. The district would sign a five-year contract, although it could withdraw from the contract with 90-days notice.

"I think it's worth trying for the first year, and then we can see what kind of return we get on it," Board Member Jeff Stone said.

Board member Norman Forman agreed, but said he would prefer the district get quotes from other companies before signing a contract.

"I like to shop. I just think it becomes a more informed decision," Forman said.

Anderson said he will seek bids from other companies to present at the board's February meeting.

In other business, the board discussed the purchase of a new ambulance, for which $130,000 was set aside in the 2015 budget.

Anderson said he had spoken with Osage Ambulance - from whom the district has ordered all of its ambulances since 2002 - and was told if the district put in its order now, the ambulance would be delivered in September.

Anderson said he would like to proceed with the purchase so long as it does not exceed the $130,000 budgeted.

Forman, who noted that the last time the district put out ambulances for bid only one other company submited a bid, asked if there were more options now.

Anderson said there is another company based out of Canada, although he noted they chose not to respond to the district's last request for bids.

Forman asked whether one of the other companies would have a shorter delivery time. Anderson said that could be possible because they are larger operations than Osage Ambulance.

Stone also expressed an interest in exploring other options before committing to an order through Osage Ambulance.

"I don't think on one line we can say we need to get bids on $4,000 and then not for $130,000," Stone said.

Board Member Clay Chism chimed in with support for soliciting bids on the project as well.

"I think we all recognize a bid would have to come in significantly lower than Osage for us to approve (another company), but with $135,000 in taxpayer money, we need to do due diligence," Chism said.