2007-11-12 Regular Meeting, Public Hearing and Workshop Meeting

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(t) All patients, whether or not domiciled in the City of La Porte, shall be liable for any co-payment or deductible amounts not satisfied by public or private insurance, and the City of La Porte shall make reasonable collection efforts for all such balances according to the most current rules or regulations set forth by applicable Health Care Financing Administration federal policies and regulations. (g) The City of La Porte may bill any applicable coinsurance carriers for such amounts. (h) Exceptions include only those instances where the City of La Porte has knowledge of a particular patient's indigence or where the City of La Porte has made a determination that the cost of billing and collecting such co-payments or deductibles exceeds or is disproportionate to the amounts to be collected. (i) The City of La Porte shall not balance bill when prohibited by law. G) A patient for whom the City of La Porte does not bill on assignment and who receives payment directly from a third party payer for emergency medical services rendered by the City of La Porte is obligated to remit such monies to the City of La Porte in the event the City of La Porte 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. (k) The City of La Porte may, either directly or through any third party billing agency with which it has contracted for billing and/or collections for emergency medical services, make arrangements with patients and/or their financially responsible party for installment payments of bills so long as the City of La Porte 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." Sec. 30-87. Procedure for EMS Billing. (a) The City of La Porte - EMS is hereby authorized to perform all EMS billing and/or collection services. (b) Funds payable to the City of La Porte by third party payers and/or carriers will NOT be routinely negotiated and will be deposited directly into a designated City of La Porte account, through a lock box or similar arrangement. (c) Exceptions to funds payable to the City of La Porte for EMS services will be limited to negotiations agreed upon between a legal representative of a patient or the party responsible for the patient's personal financial obligations and the Chief EMS Officer. (d) A detailed listing of patients who utilize Emergency Medical Services will be compiled by the City of La Porte EMS Department. This information will be collected for billing and documentation purposes only. The information will be subject to the confidentiality requirements of applicable law. This information will include, at a minimum, the following: