By Alex Portal
The Post-Star
LAKE LUZERNE, N.Y. — Although some concerns persisted over a few details, the Lake Luzerne Town Board opted to move forward with the proposed contract between Lake Luzerne, the town of Hadley, and the Rockwell Falls Ambulance Service.
“We’re kind of going against the attorney’s advice if we vote ‘yes’ for this,” explained Councilman Dane Morton at the board’s Dec. 29 meeting. “But if we don’t approve it, the Rockwell Falls Ambulance Service would not be able to run starting January first.”
The negotiations came down to the wire following the Dec. 16 board meeting that saw the ambulance service proposing the two town boards agree to an increase in service fees. The disputed portion of the contract had nothing to do with the fees; rather, it was which entity would be responsible for collecting them that was contested.
Rockwell Falls Ambulance Service president Barry Petteys explained that when the ambulance service responds to a call, it generates a report outlining the actions, services, and materials used or taken during the call. Each item is assigned a monetary value. That report is then sent to a third-party electronic medical record service that generates a bill.
“Section five [of the contract] is all about revenue recovery. It says that ‘Rockwell Falls’ will bill the patients and their insurers, which sounds to me like that’s not what’s happening,” Lake Luzerne town attorney Mary Kissane said during the Dec. 16 meeting. “What I’m hearing [Petteys] saying is that you are providing information to EMR, which is then billing.”
Because the Rockwell Falls Ambulance Service is owned jointly by the towns of Hadley and Lake Luzerne, Kissane was concerned that the burden of bill collection would fall to the towns under the terms in the agreement. She provided the town with an updated draft of the contract, which more concisely outlines what entities would be responsible for revenue recovery.
However, any changes to the contract need to be approved by both towns as well as the ambulance service. Further complicating matters, the ambulance service does not have legal counsel on retainer and would need to appeal to the towns for funds in order to hire one for any further contract negotiations. Neither of the other two entities were able to review the changes proposed by the Lake Luzerne attorney in time to meet the Dec. 31 expiration of the previous contract.
Ultimately, the board unanimously voted to approve the contract as written as an act of good faith, all three entities verbally agreeing to work to clean up the language over the coming year.
“I’m willing to vote for this agreement and essentially take the town of Hadley’s word, and the ambulance service’s word, that we’re all going to work together right at the start of the new year to update that contract,” Morton said.
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