County sees lower ambulance-collection rates as billing system data are consolidated

Finance staff reported that Sawyer County’s ambulance billing shows higher billed amounts per call but lower collection percentages, a trend they said will need monitoring as the county migrates billing data to a new vendor report.

The committee heard that collections as a percent of billed amounts were the lowest the reporter has seen — roughly in the low-30 percent range in the most recent snapshot — while average billed per run rose compared with prior years. Staff said EMSMC, the billing/reporting vendor, had migrated three months of data from the prior vendor (LifeQuest), and that the combined EMSMC report should provide a more complete monthly reconciliation going forward.

Officials cautioned that some months look low in collection percentage because insurance and government payers take time to remit payments; the finance presenter said earlier write-offs and legacy billings from the LifeQuest conversion remain visible in the aging reports. Staff asked supervisors whether they wanted deeper monthly reporting for other agencies; the finance director suggested rotating deeper quarterly dives for other large departments while keeping ambulance reporting monthly.

Supervisors asked whether the county was collecting payments from “LCO” when county ambulances transport residents served by that local government; staff said they would look into that question and follow up. No formal actions were taken; the committee received the ambulance reports and asked staff to monitor collection trends and return with updated reconciliations.