PUBLIC HEARING — EMS BILLING FOR SERVICE
The Public Hearing about Billing for Ambulance and EMS service was held at the Trumansburg Elementary School Auditorium last Wednesday June 18th. It was fairly well attended and went well from my perspective. Trustee Chris Thomas explained why he feels we should make the move to billing, and then Trumansburg paramedic Norm Hummel offered a much more reasonable assessment of the many pitfalls inherent in Thomas’s plan. It was then opened up to the public (3 minute limit).
By my count there were 7 people who spoke in favor of billing, and 18 who spoke up against it. Of the 18 who spoke against billing, 9 are current or past members of the Fire Dept. and/or Ambulance Corps. No volunteers spoke in favor of billing. One would think that this would be the final nail in the coffin, and that they would drop the billing plan, but our local government has surprised me before. WD5 appeared dead several times, but keeps rising from the dead. The Village held a special informational meeting on WD5 and passed a resolution , more or less in support of it, after the majority in the room spoke against it. The moral of the story is to be involved, and keep an eye on them. I am lobbying the Town Board to pass a resolution against billing, since they provide 65% of the funds for the Fire Department, Ambulance/EMS. You could help me with that by calling our representatives at the Village and the Town.
I recorded the meeting and have posted the audio at http://trumansburgambulance.blogspot.com/ along with time notation to help you navigate through it, and my comments.
I also recorded the public hearing the next day when the Planing Board heard public comment to consider during their Site Plan Review process regarding the proposed Byrne Dairy Store. (Next to Falls Tavern) I’ve posted the audio of this at http://ulyssesdemocrats.blogspot.com/ No one spoke against allowing Byrne Dairy to build on this site, but many made convincing arguments about how much better it would look if the gas pumps could be put in back of the store. This is the first time a project like this has undergone Site Plan Review in Trumansburg. I hope the process allows us to influence the future of our built environment. The Dollar Store, and the Movie Gallery, are excellent examples of what we will see in the future without the kind of control that the site plan review process could bring, if the planning board does their job well.
All of the audio for all of the Village Board and Town Board meetings for the past few months are posted at http://ulyssesdemocrats.blogspot.com/
I continue to pressure the Village Board to consider passing the resolution to urge Congress to consider impeachment, and I post my monthly infomercials at http://trumansburgimpeachment.blogspot.com/
I put a great deal of time into these blogs in hope that the community will use them to become more involved in our local government. Please consider bookmarking them and visiting occasionally. I’d also like some help with it. I’m investing too much time for a guy who is supposed to be earning a living. Let me know if you’d like to help.
Allen, I know exactly what you mean – and earning a living is getting quite a bit harder, what with gas and food prices going up as they are. They get a bookmark – and a StumbleUpon – from me.
Thank you, Allen, for your hard work.
I attended the public hearing about the EMS billing, and had another thought on my way home, so did not ask this in the hearing
Chris Thomas stated that the billing would be done by the Village, not an outside, impersonal billing company. Does anyone know how many person-hours would be needed for billing Medicare, Medicaid, Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Empire, etc. I don’t know, but I’d guess A LOT, not to mention the knowledge needed to deal with all those systems. So how much would it cost the village to do this billing? I’d guess at least a half time position, maybe a full one.
Jackie,
Are you sure he said that? In his main talk at the beginning? I’ve listened to the audio, and if he said that I missed it.
Allen
The billing will be done by an outside billing agency.
Allen, I thought I heard him say that in his opening statement, as a way of reassuring us that those with no insurance will not be “aggressively billed”. Maybe I was reading into it. If, as “caringparamedic” states, the billing will be done by an outside billing agency, then the Village would be less likely to have control of the level of aggressiveness or followup attempts to collect. Either way, it’s a minus for the billing plan.
Agreed, Jackie. A billing agency won’t go soft on anyone, regardless of whether they have the money. A child with a broken arm should not ruin the credit of his parents.