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Madison County authorizes outsourcing hazmat cost-recovery billing to MedBill after rising responses
Summary
The commissioners approved a contract to outsource hazardous-materials cost-recovery billing to MedBill (Indianapolis); the firm will take 7% of recovered amounts (no charge if no recoveries), and staff said the county has about $30,000 in uncollected hazmat accounts receivable.
Madison County commissioners approved an agreement to outsource hazardous-materials cost-recovery billing to MedBill, a firm based in Indianapolis, after county hazmat leaders said in-house collections were insufficient to recover outstanding fees.
"So the external company, they collect 7% of everything that they bring in," said Josh Hendrick, deputy chief of the Madison Fire territory and hazmat-team lead. He told commissioners the company waived an approximately $1,500 setup fee in the agreement and that "right now, like I said, we're doing that all in house" but have about "$30,000 in AR that we've been unable to collect." Hendrick said moving billing to a specialist could speed recovery.
Hendrick described a notable increase in responses last year — "we did 32 responses last year" — and new operational strains including lithium-ion incidents and fentanyl-related responses that have increased workload. He said outsourcing billing would allow the team more time and expertise to pursue collections, and that the external firm bills a 7% contingency fee only on amounts it collects.
Chair moved to approve the request and the board approved the agreement by voice vote. The agreement is intended to improve recovery of outstanding costs associated with hazmat responses; the transcript references a 2012 resolution that established the county's prior hazmat cost-recovery framework.
