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Select Board reviews ambulance contracts that shift billing to reimburse Plymouth for full transport costs
Summary
The Select Board reviewed and placed in the signature file 2025–26 ambulance service contracts that use a new billing methodology intended to reimburse the town 100% of transport costs; managers described quarterly reconciliation and year-end settlement procedures.
The Plymouth Select Board reviewed 2025–26 ambulance service contracts with neighboring towns and discussed the town’s revised billing methodology designed to recover 100% of ambulance transport costs.
Town Manager Scott told the board that contracts for Ashland, Holderness, Bridgewater, Romney and Dorchester will be in the signature file; the agreements implement a billing process the town revised two years ago after collection shortfalls. Scott said the town now separates fire and ambulance budgets to track ambulance costs precisely.
Scott explained the reimbursement workflow: the town invoices each contracting community quarterly for transports, reconciles the call records with the town, and at year end issues checks to the contractor town for amounts collected from commercial insurers, private pay and Medicaid. Scott said that in the 2024–25 fiscal year the town's per-transport cost averaged $1,140 and that the cost for 2025–26 is budgeted at $1,373 per transport. Under the contracts, the town aims to be reimbursed for its full cost rather than rely on the portions previously retained from collections.
The Select Board received multiple service contracts for signature (meeting materials included the Dorchester contract and others in the signature file). No roll-call vote was recorded during the presentation; Scott asked the board to place the documents in the signature file for execution starting July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026.
Board members asked clarifying questions during the presentation and thanked staff for the explanation on the reassessed billing process and reconciliation procedures. The meeting record indicates staff will complete contract signatures and proceed with the quarterly invoicing and year-end reconciliations under the updated method.
