Volunteer squads billing patients

[CJD312]

Hi all,

I run in an area of NJ where recently we have seen a large increase in the number residents we provide care to. Just recently the idea has come up that we begin to bill our patients for our services due to low funding. We are a mostly volunteer organization who has a paid crew on from 6 am to 6 pm due to most of our members working at daily jobs. However, at this time we do receive funding from the various townships and boroughs we serve. What I am looking to see is if anyone has any information about the whole process of becoming state certified and if billing would cause an issue due to the fact that our patients would essentially being paying twice for the same service. We're completely new to this idea so anything would help.

Thanks for the help

[MeekoBB]

You bill your patients then you lose your not for profit status. Its been tried near me. A lot of residents despise it because for the most part they cant afford the $300-$1000+ transport.

[JPINFV]

A lot of residents despise it because for the most part they cant afford the $300-$1000+ transport.

Well, good thoughts won't pay for gas or supplies. Does anyone know why non-profit hospitals can bill for services but non-profit ambulance services can't? Just because something is non-profit doesn't mean it can't make money. A non-profit hospital by my house is firmly in the black, which is why it was able to build another 7 or 8 floor tower to expand services, already has plans to expand it's ICU with a third tower (the hospital already had a 10 floor tower), and expand its ER (which has one of the highest number of patients but one of the lowest number of hours on divert).

[akflightmedic]

Many moons ago when I was affiliated with a volunteer agency, we used to bill their insurance. Whatever the insurance paid thats what we accepted. If insurance denied, oh well. The residents loved us for that and it actually helped increase donations at our fundraisers because some that we transported decided they could afford a little something out of pocket. They also new we were serving the residents with no insurance without requiring payment. During transport or afterwards, whenever it is most appropriate, we would ensure the patient was fully aware we were volunteer, they would not recieve a bill, we would charge their insurance only, if they didnt have any not to worry and finally if they wanted to send us anything, even 5 dollars..here is the address to remit funds to.

This worked out great and it sustained the squad for many years.

[EMS49393]

You do not lose your not for profit status if you bill. You lose your status if you make more money then you spend. Government funding only carries a service so long. You can't possibly upgrade old and outdated equipment, or provide paid staffing if you have no monetary resources in your budget.

At one point and time I was a volunteer in a local fire department that ran two ALS ambulances. I try to forget that time in my life, but I do remember when we started to bill for services. We would bill insurance companies, and if the patient had no insurance, we would bill them directly. To the patients we sent one bill for the amount with a notice attached to it explaining that if they did not have the ability to pay the bill, we would still appreciate any donation to our company. If the bill was not paid by the patient, we did not put them in collections, we wrote off the loss. At the time this was happening we were in transition to staff our ambulances 24 hours with paid crews. We generated a lot of revenue off of billing, and it contributed to being able to afford newer ambulances, better equipment, and paid staffing. We never lost our non-profit status because those reasons stated above.

There are a few computer programs out there that are designed for EMS billing. I would also consider running an ad in your local papers for someone with medical billing experience to join your organization and assist in the billing aspect. There are still a few people out there willing to donate their time for a good cause.

Do the patients that despise paying an ambulance bill despise paying the ER bill as well? Very rare is the occasion when you get something for nothing. You should look into how much money it actually costs to treat a truly sick person, or for that matter, a person that isn't very sick at all but is still using resources. Keep up the mentality of not billing, and you'll keep your service in the stone ages of EMS, because you won't be able to afford to keep up with changing trends for improved patient care.

[Asysin2leads]

Just because something is non-profit doesn't mean it can't make money.

I'm sorry, but no matter how many times I read that line, it makes me laugh.

[Timmy]

Well this is probably off topic but, I’m in a volley organization. We provide first aid to events. We are a non profit service but we charge $32 an hour to be on stand by.

We don’t transport or anything. We have fully equipped ambulances. Were a back up to the state government ambulance, so if there’s a bushfire or major MVA the government expects us to drop everything and cover the state ambulances service butts. Yet we don’t receive government funding. It costs an extreme amount of money to keep the service running, our only income is the event fee, people buying first aid kits and public donations. Many times we have spent more money on equipment, fuel, member welfare, supplies, communications ect than what the actual event pays to have us there, meaning were running at a loss. There’s an extremely increasing demand on our service and it’s getting tough to keep things afloat.

I’ve never heard of a volunteer emergency ambulance service so I can’t really say anything that would help.

[skibum]

I am a member of a volly BLS (non-profit) ambulance agency in NY and we do precisely what has been discussed. We bill the insurance companies and take what we can get, if the pt. doesn't have insurance, we take the loss.

To keep a long story short, I just wanted to bring up that we do it, and it seems to be working for us. So if there were any specific questions you had, I could talk with the people in my squad that know something about it and get your questions answered.

-skibum

[mediccjh]

You bill your patients then you lose your not for profit status. Its been tried near me. A lot of residents despise it because for the most part they cant afford the $300-$1000+ transport.

You needed to specify that it applies in New Jersey only. However, there are companies out there, that bill and do not lose their non-profit status.

[flight-lp]

You bill your patients then you lose your not for profit status. Its been tried near me. A lot of residents despise it because for the most part they cant afford the $300-$1000+ transport.

Yea, heaven forbid they have to actually pay for healthcare....................

This topic makes me sick. If you offer a service, there is absoulutely nothing wrong with billing appropriately for it. Too many people demand a quality EMS service, but refuse to pay for it. Yet they pay for their trash and sewer services and don't bitch about them. We humans are a wierd species! I say let them not pay for it, let your funding go to s^#t, and then close your doors. Guarantee the first loved one in your county that dies from a lack of EMS will get you some more funding and one less family that will whine and complain about paying for it. Sad, but true.................

I do have a question though. Why the big deal about being "not for profit" or "non-profit"? Just curious.............