Finance committee forwards proposed medical-records, lab-shipping and no-show fees to full board

The Skagway Municipality Finance Committee voted to forward proposed additions to the clinic fee schedule to the full board for consideration. The packet presented three specific fees: a charge for providing copies of medical records, a proposed flat $50 shipping fee for lab specimens that require special handling, and a patient no-show charge with the dollar amount not set in committee.

Alex Waddell presented the fee proposals and asked the committee to forward them to the board. Waddell said the municipality currently provides copies of medical records on a thumb drive without charging and that staff time and third-party archive retrieval consumes resources. On the lab-shipping fee, a committee member asked whether insurance would cover the $50 charge; Waddell replied that coverage varies by insurer and that staff will prepare a more detailed list of which insurers and test types might cover shipping before the board meeting. “We bleed out cash and ship it,” Waddell said, explaining why a shipping fee is needed.

A committee member questioned whether certain testing days (for example, twice-yearly STI clinics) would be exempt from the fee; Waddell said the clinic bundles shipping on those events and would not charge patients for shipping on those days.

The committee approved a motion to forward the recommendations to the full board. The motion was made by Thomas; the roll-call vote recorded Jan Lynn Baker and another member voting in the affirmative and the motion was approved.

Next steps: staff will prepare insurance-coverage detail and proposed dollar amounts for the no-show fee and return the complete package to the full board for a vote at the upcoming board meeting.