Finance committee advances ordinance updating ambulance fees as city takes over EMS billing

The Wilmington Finance Committee on an evening meeting agreed to send Ordinance 25‑012—an amendment to Chapter 10 of the city code revising ambulance and related service fees—to the full City Council for final consideration on May 1.

The measure, presented by Stephanie Mergler, deputy chief of staff for the mayor’s office, accompanies the city’s planned takeover of emergency medical services (EMS) billing from Trinity Health. Mergler said the city will contract with a third‑party medical billing firm, Specklen, to handle insurance billing and compliance. "We have engaged a third party billing company called Specklen, to perform the medical insurance billing," she told the committee.

Committee members were told the ordinance updates fees that have not been changed since 1994 and are intended to align billable rates with industry standards and insurer expectations. Mergler and budget staff said the city expects to bill Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers at the new rates and projected roughly $2.5 million in EMS billing revenue in the first year,…