By Dean Narciso
The Columbus Dispatch
NORWICH TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Norwich Township has been among the few holdouts in Franklin County that have refused to bill for emergency medical service transports.
That may change soon if township Administrator Wayne Warner gets his way.
The state is phasing out the tangible personal-property tax, which generates $1 million annually for the township’s fire fund.
“If we do nothing, we’re going to have to find additional revenue,” Warner said.
Norwich, like Westerville and Washington and Pleasant townships, has relied on property taxes to finance its fire department. While they’ve been leery of having their paramedics probe into patients’ insurance coverage, each is now considering billing for transport as a way to forestall new taxes during a recession.
“I think the feeling was, why do it if you don’t need the funding,” Warner said.
Norwich has scheduled a public hearing for Monday to discuss its “soft billing” proposal. The practice involves billing a patient’s insurance company.
Patients would be billed only for the amount their insurance doesn’t cover and only if they live outside the Norwich Township Fire Department services area. Norwich residents and those in Hilliard and Brown Township, which are in the Norwich service area, would not be billed for an amount not covered by their insurance.
The township has a draft contract with Med 3000, a health-care company that, for a fee, provides billing services for many local departments, including Columbus.
Columbus has been collecting about $1 million a month, Battalion Chief Doug Smith said.
Norwich Township trustees could vote as early as June 15 to authorize billing. And the program could begin by July 1, Warner said.
In Washington Township, Fire Chief Al Woo also acknowledged that budget cuts or new revenue are being sought,
“We’ve looked at it,” he said of EMS billing. “And we’ll probably look at it again.
“We didn’t feel that it would bring that significant of revenues and we were already well-funded.”
But studies have shown that state funding cuts could cost the township more than $800,000 annually.
Norwich Township estimates that it could recoup at least $600,000 of an $800,000 shortfall through billing, said Fire Chief David Long.
The billing fee for a basic transport is about $600. With advanced life support, the bill can top $1,000, plus $13 per mile. However, departments are happy to collect half of that after negotiating with insurance companies and writing off losses from those who can’t or won’t pay, officials said.
Cost-cutting measures such as refurbishing an older fire truck instead of buying a new one have allowed Westerville to keep its department fiscally sound, even beyond its expired tax levy.
Still, Westerville City Council had its first reading of an ordinance to implement EMS billing Monday night. EMS services are 80 percent of the fire department operations.
The city estimates it would take in about $1 million a year.
Copyright 2009 The Columbus Dispatch
All Rights Reserved