02 City Council Minutes 8-10-04 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meetrng August 10, 2004 Page 12 Councilman Wilson asked how much Medicare would pay on that. Mr. Klinkerman reminded them this was mandated by Federal law. He said they would pay about $185.00 on the base rate and then they can balance bill the patient or the secondary insurance and the difference has to be written off. He said they were transitioning from a fee for service, which started in 2002, to a national fee schedule, which is overlaid with a regional fee schedule. He said there is a difference in reimbursement because Lamar is considered a rural county. He said, if they approve, Medicare allows about $6.50 per loaded mile. Mr. Klinkerman said about 46% of the EMS department income comes from Medicare, 9% comes from Medicaid, and 33% comes from private insurance. He explained that because of the allowables by Medicaid, he has positioned the charges above that so that reimbursements will continue to go up every year. Mr. Klinkerman asked that they not do away with the ambulance in the budget yet. He would like to figure the impact it would make to the budget and contract, first, and then bring those figures back to the CounciL It was agreed that he could bring that back to Council. Councilman Bell asked if he was asked to cut any personneL Mr. Klinkerman said he was not. He said his supervisors fill in as needed, while still supervising. He said they also use reserves. For the community outreach, they use a lot of volunteers as well. Mr. Klinkerman said the First Responder Program started in 1998. He mentioned he was a state-certified instructor for that and that Rick Browning is the lead instructor. He said there are 18 First Responder groups and they have trained about 120 people outside of the City limits for this. He said all paid personnel carry pagers and when there is an emergency, ten vehicles and 100-150 people can respond within thirty minutes. Councilman Bell commended him on the cooperative effort and asked Chief Ronnie Grooms of the Fire Department is he would like to comment.