Hopewell police chief proposes EMS fee increase, subscription program and hardship policy

Chief Rupert told the council the city’s EMS fund helps pay for apparatus and vehicle leases and that rising equipment costs make it difficult to keep up with replacements. He proposed changing the city’s EMS fee ordinance to set rates as a percentage of Medicare-allowable charges, with staff-provided options at 135% or 150% of Medicare. The billing company projected those changes could yield roughly $26,000 annually at 135% or about $45,000 at 150%, though the chief cautioned actual revenue will vary with call volumes.

Chief Rupert said only about 8.6% of patients pay out of pocket and that the city currently charges less than Medicare allows. He noted apparatus costs — an estimated ambulance lease payment of about $88,000 per year and front-line engines at about $228,000 each — as context for the proposal. To limit impacts on residents, he proposed two mitigation measures: expanding the existing subscription program (presented as the Ride Saver program) from $59 to $69 annually so subscribed households would not receive EMS billing for covered calls, and a hardship policy that applies discounts based on the Department of Health and Human Services poverty guidelines (100% discount at the poverty line; scaled discounts above that threshold through 300%).

Councilors asked about how self-pay discounts would apply and about implementation; the chief said staff would follow federal reporting rules while discounting accounts for citizens and that the hardship policy would use an annual application process tied to household size and income. No formal ordinance vote occurred; staff presented the options for council direction and potential future ordinance language.

Next steps identified in the meeting included further staff work on ordinance text and return of a proposed ordinance that would set the new fee schedule mechanism and hardship program details.