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 carrier for the incident’s responsible party; it takes a 15 percent commission from any reimbursements collected; and there are no upfront or recurring fees if claims are not collected. Fleming said billing is directed only to insurers and, if an insurer does not pay, the vendor generally will not pursue the individual policyholder.

Staff gave examples of billable incident categories that could be included during onboarding: motor-vehicle accidents, structure fires, vehicle fires, equipment fires, hazardous-material incidents and some commercial/industrial responses. The presenter said billable items can include personnel time, equipment depreciation, debris removal, certain inspections and permit-related costs. Fleming offered sample fee levels used by other municipalities: a level-1 motor-vehicle accident (MVA) roughly around $500 and certain high-level hazmat responses that could reach several thousand dollars (the vendor cited an example range up to about $7,000 depending on scope). In electric-vehicle scenarios, Fleming said some blanket or specialized-equipment costs have been reimbursed at several hundred dollars up to about $1,600 depending on documentation.

Council members asked how rates are set and how collections are projected. Fleming said fee schedules are customizable and vendors typically provide a sample schedule that most cities modify; staff noted the city would choose which response types to include. On projections, staff and the vendor cautioned that exact revenue is difficult to predict until the city bills for a period and reviews three-to-six month reports; the vendor said variation depends on call mix, insurers involved and documentation quality. Fleming said, as an illustrative historical pattern, many incidents are identified as billable but a smaller share of billed amounts are ultimately collected by insurers; she described variability by insurer and called the early months a time to learn which carriers pay reliably.

Staff described how billing would integrate with existing reporting: the vendor would provide monthly accounts-receivable, charge, invoice, write-off and denial-detail reports (end-of-month reports are produced on the fifth business day; deposits arrive approximately by the 15th). Council members requested historical data on the city’s recent call types and counts so staff and the vendor could produce local revenue scenarios and proposed fee schedules. Members also raised the policy question of public messaging: several council members stressed the need to explain to residents that billing targets insurers or nonresidents rather than charging residents out of pocket for services their taxes fund.

There was no formal vote during the work session. Several council members indicated they were “not opposed” and expressed consensus to pursue the item further, asking staff to return with proposed ordinance language, suggested fee schedules and historical call data to inform projections.

The city did not adopt a billing program at the Oct. 14 meeting; staff said an addendum and a template ordinance are available from the vendor for the council’s consideration if the council chooses to move ahead.