2022-022 - Adopting the Charity Care Policy for Ambulance Services

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CHARITY CARE POLICY for AMBULANCE SERVICES AMBULANCE SERVICES PROVIDER: City of Paris EMS APPROVED: 3/1/2022 PURPOSE The purpose of this policy is to recognize that City of Paris EMS may provide ambulance services to patients who may not have the means to pay the ambulance transport fee due to circumstances beyond their control. It is not the intent of this policy to provide charity care to patients who have the ability to pay or patients who have private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid or other third -party coverage. POLICY It is the policy of City of Paris EMS to provide ambulance services to our community without regards to a patient's and/or guarantor's ability to pay for these services. We maintain a charity care policy for patients who are unable to pay for all or part of their care for various reasons. Charity care is not available for patients who are able to pay for their care. For those patients who are able to pay for their care, City of Paris EMS shall require payment but may offer special arrangements, including payment plans, with approval of the EMS Director. Payment plan inquiries shall be directed to City of Paris EMS, PO Box 9037, Paris, Texas 75461-9037. GUIDELINES These guidelines are provided to the contractor(s) currently performing ambulance billing and collections and revenue maximization consulting services for City of Paris EMS. The contractor(s) may rely on these guidelines and provide hardship assistance without further approval from City of Paris EMS. However, City of Paris EMS reserves the right to review any of the accounts that were deemed eligible for charity care in order to ascertain if the contractor is acting in conformity with the guidelines. City of Paris EMS further reserves the right to modify this policy at any time. Full charity care reduction (100% write-off of ambulance service charges to charity care) shall be granted to patients earning less than or equal to 400% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), as published annually by the Department of Health and Human Services. City of Paris EMS and/or its contractor(s) shall rely on financial data provided by the patient and may also utilize data from credit bureaus and other sources to determine if the patient is eligible for charity care. Once it is determined that the patient is eligible for charity care, City of Paris EMS or its contractor(s) shall make no further attempts to collect payment from the patient.