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Panel debates whether Brentwood or Fremont should keep billing and how to guard taxpayer risk
Summary
Committee discussed two contract models — Brentwood keeps patient revenues and charges a readiness fee, or Fremont retains revenues and pays Brentwood — and raised HIPAA, patient‑data and administrative workload concerns if Fremont were to handle collections for transports Brentwood performs.
The committee discussed operational and legal facets of contract structure, including whether Brentwood should perform transports and also handle billing, or whether Fremont should retain billing responsibility as part of the agreement. Multiple members cautioned that asking one municipality to collect for transports it did not perform raises paperwork, patient‑data and HIPAA concerns.
“That's Right. I was leading to that,” one participant said when the question of a subcontract and HIPAA implications was raised. Members agreed collection‑and‑privacy issues, plus the additional administrative burden on a municipality that does not perform transports, weigh in favor of having the transport provider (Brentwood) manage billing — but only if the contract protects Brentwood taxpayers from collection shortfalls.
Because both collection strategy (local outreach vs third‑party collections) and contract wording affect cash timing and risk allocation, the subcommittee directed staff to reflect data and protection clauses in an RFP and proposed contract templates.
