Madison Bateman
Carroll County Times, Westminster, Md.
CARROLL COUNTY, Md. — Carroll County commissioners took a step toward standardizing emergency medical services billing Thursday morning during their weekly meeting.
The Board of Commissioners approved a contract award for EMS billing services in the county at the request of the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services.
The department recommended the award for the contract to provide emergency medical treatment/transport billing, collection and financial reporting services to AdvantEdge Healthcare Solutions, a company from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
Maureen Dunn, of the county’s bureau of purchasing, said proposals were requested from vendors capable and interested in performing this service. A committee was formed to evaluate both the technical and financial capabilities of the potential vendors and AdvantEdge Healthcare Solutions scored highest overall out of the nine total proposals.
The Fire/EMS Department plans to assume employment and EMS responsibilities from the volunteer stations over the next five fiscal years, commencing in FY22. The transition will allow the department to bill for ambulance services to assist funding the personnel.
County Administrator Roberta Windham told commissioners AdvantEdge is the company “that provides EMS billing services for most of the volunteer companies” in the county.
“This is a service contract,” she said. “As a result of the departure of the Fire and EMS director things are still up in the air at the moment ... it doesn’t cost us anything to engage this service until we use it.”
She said, “it’ll be there, ready, willing and able once we are ready to move forward with the actual billing.”
“Will this standardize our EMS billing throughout the county?” Commissioner Dennis Frazier, R- District 3, asked. “My understanding now is that not all fire departments charge the same thing for the services.”
She replied: “At the moment the services are to be phased in over a five-year period. So as the county moves into hiring each individual station’s EMS personnel and we take over ... that station will be standard with every other station that we already operate.”
___
(c)2021 the Carroll County Times (Westminster, Md.)