Agenda

Return

C. 57

To:	Contra Costa County Fire Protection District Board of Directors
From:	Lewis T. Broschard III, Chief, Contra Costa Fire Protection District
Date:	August 8, 2023

Contra

Costa

County

Subject:

Emergency Ambulance Account Write-Off Report

APPROVE	OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR	RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On: 08/08/2023

APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED

OTHER

Clerks Notes:

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:

John Gioia, District I Supervisor
John Gioia, District I Supervisor
Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor
Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor
Diane Burgis, District III Supervisor
Diane Burgis, District III Supervisor
Ken Carlson, District IV Supervisor
Ken Carlson, District IV Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor

Contact:

Scott Wannamaker, Assistant Chief, (925) 941-3300

I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: August 8, 2023
Monica Nino, County Administrator

BY:	, Deputy

RECOMMENDATION(S):

Acting as the governing board of the Contra Costa Fire Protection District, RECEIVE a report of the January, 2023 through June, 2023 account balance write-offs of Contra Costa County Fire Protection District emergency ambulance services fees and charges totaling $400,004.50.

FISCAL IMPACT:

Total amount of write-offs in January - June 2023 is $400,004.50 and is funded by CCCFPD Emergency Medical Services Transport Fund.

BACKGROUND:

On October 11, 2022 the Board of Directors adopted revised policies and procedures for the billing and collection for emergency ambulance services. Policy AMB-6 (Write-Off Policy) requires the Fire District to report all account write-offs to the Board of Directors on a semi-annual basis at a regularly scheduled Board meeting.

BACKGROUND: (CONT'D)

The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District responds to community emergency transport needs, and when feasible obtains client insurance information during incident response reporting and all efforts are made to recover service costs. If insurance information cannot be obtained, billing and insurance request notices are mailed to clients to recover costs primarily from insurance companies or client payments. When insurance information is available, the District is able to bill insurance companies for emergency transport service provided to their members. However, timely billing periods can pose challenges when the District must file claims within certain time periods that can be anywhere from 60-days or less to up to one year from the date of services, before the claim becomes uncollectible. In some situations, clients do not have insurance or the amount covered by the insurance leaves a balance that imposes a significant hardship on the client.

In compliance with the recent Write-Off Policy, clients may request that a portion or the entire amount owed be waived through the Compassionate Care Application (CCA). Eligibility for such waivers is based on a sliding scale for clients at or below 200% of the federal poverty level. The majority of the write-offs are a result of an approved CCA waiver, billing errors, or enough time has passed that the claims are deemed uncollectible by insurance companies.

The attached report reflects account write-offs due to uncollectible balances in the amount of $400,004.50 for the period of January 1, 2023 through June 30, 2023.

CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:

The Board would not accept the District's write-off approvals report, which would conflict with account receivable accounts due to the uncollectible balances being writen-off.