NEWFANE — Volunteer fire companies have been given the green light by the town to institute billing for their ambulance services.
The town board passed a resolution authorizing the Miller Hose, Olcott and Wrights Corners volunteer fire companies to pursue payment of fees associated with ambulance-based treatment and transport from their patients’ health insurers. The resolution was adopted on a 3-0 vote – town board members Richard Coleman and Robert Horanburg, both volunteer firefighters abstained.
“It seemed pretty clear that this is something that is allowed through the law and it seems to provide a win-win for our community,” town supervisor John Syracuse said.
In 2022, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation that allows volunteer fire companies to bill for emergency medical services. The companies will only be able to issue bills to insurance providers for calls they respond to within the town of Newfane.
Last month, personnel from the fire companies that service the town first pitched their plans to implement “soft billing.”
“If you’re a town of Newfane resident, we’re only billing your insurance company. We don’t take the copay and if you don’t have insurance, we don’t bill you,” Olcott Fire Company Chief Mike Miller said.
Several volunteer companies are instituting ambulance billing as operating costs have continued to mount.
Shannon Coleman, EMS captain with Miller Hose, specifically pointed to new and rising costs for supplies that were previously covered by local hospitals.
However, as the demand for medical supplies was met with dwindling supply, local hospitals were no longer able to provide those supplies to the companies. “Reciprocal agreements” have not returned post-pandemic.
“Over the past three to five years, our cost of operating the ambulance has multiplied probably by 10. So something that was free previously now costs thousands of dollars,” Coleman told the town board.
Earlier this month, Wrights Corners also received authorization to bill insurance companies for its ambulance services provided to residents in the town of Lockport.