Highland Village council hears proposal to bill insurers for fire and emergency responses

Highland Village city staff and a private billing vendor presented a plan Oct. 14 for the city to recover some costs from fire and emergency responses by billing the responsible party’s insurance carrier rather than pursuing individual residents.

The proposal matters because the city currently absorbs those response costs and staff said insurance policies commonly include provisions that cover fire and first-response service charges. Adopting a billing program, staff said, could generate incremental revenue without upfront cost to the city.

At the early work session, Keith Reed (staff member) introduced representatives from the billing company and said the firm — identified in the presentation as EmergeFire (staff also referenced the name Emergicon) — has more than a decade of experience working with emergency-service agencies to pursue insurer reimbursements. Britney Fleming, identified as a subject-matter representative for the vendor, described the program’s mechanics: the company handles paperwork and files claims with the insurance…