Council approves one-year contract to outsource prebooking inmate medical billing

Cleveland City Council approved an emergency ordinance authorizing the director of public safety and the director of finance to enter into one or more contracts with Heritage Health Solutions Inc. to provide medical-billing services for prebooking prisoners for a one-year term with two one-year renewal options.

The ordinance, introduced by Councilmembers Polencic and Griffin as Ordinance 10-82-2025, covers professional services to process medical claims and to reprice bills at Medicaid rates before the city pays hospitals and other providers. Director-level staff said the contract will cover the vendorprocessing of claims and the city will pay the approved medical costs plus the vendorprocessing fee.

Council began by asking staff to explain the work in lay terms. April Butshe, administrative manager for EMS billing and prisoner-care billing, said: "They will act as a TPA, a third party administrator on the city's behalf. They will reprice them at Medicaid rate,…