By Nate Delesline III

Published: April 20, 2008

Culpeper County expects to collect nearly $500,000 this year in reimbursements for medical transportation and services.

Introduced last March, the county’s revenue recovery program will likely fund nearly one-quarter of the county’s Office of Emergency Services $2 million budget said County Administrator Frank Bossio.

“The reason we did it was because we felt the need improve the response time in and around the town, where 70 percent of the calls come from,” Bossio said. He said another goal was 24 hour, 7-day-a-week service.

However, county officials want to make it clear that ambulance rides will not become taxi rides, with riders asked to pay up at the hospital. Instead of paying out of pocket, the county bills Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance companies for services rendered.

“This is something that’s been available to us for a long, long time,” said county Emergency Services Director Tom Williams.

“We only collect what the insurance companies will pay,” Williams said.

A Virginia Beach company handles billing, but residents should not fear legal action if the costs are beyond their means said Williams.

“We weren’t getting that revenue, and we were giving free rides,” said Bossio, calling the circumstances “a pretty compelling case” for recovering the money.

Culpeper County has dealt with a $4 million shortfall in next year’s fiscal budget, first announced in January.

For this fiscal year, which ends in June, Bossio said the county so far has collected $400,000 in reimbursements by June for medical care and transport and expects to top $500,000. Last year, $100,000 was collected.

“This is a program that actually is saving the taxpayers money,” said Williams. “I would say the vast majority of jurisdictions in the Commonwealth are either doing it or thinking about doing it.”

For communities, “This is just kind of another way of them trying to recoup the cost of trying to provide health services,” said Elizabeth Singer, a spokesman with the Virginia Office of Emergency Medical Services. “There are some communities that have been doing it for quite a while.”

Singer said the decision to implement revenue recovery programs is at the discretion of each community.

“It’s totally up to the agency or the locality the office of EMS provided this document to help the agencies explore this as an option,” she said.

Philip Myer, Chief of Fauquier County’s Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services, said a similar program is expected to generate an estimated $1.3 million.

“We are optimistic that our revenue will support the transition of a second station,” (to around the clock service) said Myer, adding that how the changes impact the relationship between fulltime and volunteer staff are still under evaluation. Myer said communities that bill insurance for first responder services are becoming the rule rather than the exception.

“Implementing this, we transitioned the Warrenton career staff from daytime to 24-7,” service Myer said. “I have no doubts that we’ll be able to fund a second unit.

“The call volume has increased over the past several years pretty steadily and in terms of providing day in and day out that consistency of care, it’s really made a difference.”

Williams said billing is assessed based on the services provided. A basic life support call is one fee, while more advanced care is grouped into another tier of fees.

As an example, Williams said advanced procedures may include an electrocardiogram, starting an IV and delivering several medications. A bill may range from $250 to about $800, with an average cost of $400. The program covers ground transportation only medical helicopter transport is billed through those companies Williams said.

Nate Delesline III can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 110 or .