(A) Putnam County, Indiana recognizes the need to bill for these services to aid in the provision of emergency medical services.
(B) No person requiring EMS shall be denied services due to a lack of insurance or ability to pay, except in the instance of stand-by services for hire.
(C) Any applicable charges for EMS rendered shall be billed directly to the patient's third-party payer or directly to the patient.
(D) Stand-by service fees shall be negotiated, and payor responsibilities shall be negotiated between PCEMS and interested organizations prior to scheduled event.
(E) A patient who receives emergency medical services from PCEMS is obligated, at the time of service or as soon as practicable thereafter, to provide PCEMS all pertinent insurance information to facilitate PCEMS billing of third-party payment sources for services rendered. PCEMS, at its option, and shall, where required by law, bill insurers or carriers on a patient's behalf and may accept payment on an assignment basis.
(F) PCEMS will not balance bill for charges not covered by patient's insurance, if the patient and/or the patient's guardian and/or health care representative is a resident of Putnam County, Indiana. In the instance a patient, who is a Putnam County resident, does not have health insurance and is considered to be self-pay, a sliding scale will be established with the contracted medical billing agency.
(G) PCEMS will balance bill for charges not covered by patient's insurance if the patient is not a permanent resident of Putnam County, Indiana and/or the patient's deductible has not been met and the patient is a resident of Putnam County.
(H) A patient for whom PCEMS does not bill on assignment and who receives payment directly from a third-party payer for emergency medical services rendered by PCEMS is obligated to remit such monies to PCEMS in the event PCEMS has not been paid for services rendered. Patients who do not remit such monies may be held liable for costs of collection in addition to the charges for emergency medical services rendered.
(I) PCEMS has contracted a third-party billing agency, Med-Bill, for billing and/or collections for emergency medical services received by PCEMS. Med-Bill, whose contact information will be listed below, may make arrangements with patients and/or their financially responsible party for installment payments of bills so long as Med-Bill determines that (1) the financial condition of the patient requires such an arrangement; and (2) the patient and/or financially responsible party has demonstrated a willingness to make good faith efforts towards payment of the bill.
Putnam County EMS
c/o Med-Bill
PO Box 56002
Indianapolis IN 46256
317-849-6628 ex. 2
billing@getmedbill.com
(Ord. 2020-6-1-3, passed 6-1-2020; Ord. passed 3-4-2024; Ord. passed 5-6-2024)