Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps will soon begin billing for ambulance transports within the Riverhead Town Ambulance District.
The ambulance company has been billing for transports resulting from motor vehicle accidents within the district since 2017, but will now implement billing for all calls in order to cover spiraling costs.
Bills will be sent directly to patients’ medical insurance companies, with insurance information provided by the hospital, with the patients’ consent.
People who don’t have medical insurance will be billed, and people who have insurance may be billed for amounts not covered by their insurance, but no action will be taken against them, Riverhead Ambulance District Manager Patrick Gugliotta said.
“We’re not going to put anybody into collections, or hit anybody’s credit,” Gugliotta said.
“No one should hesitate to call for an ambulance when they need assistance,” Gugliotta said. “We want to make sure everybody understands that.”
The expanded billing program will begin either June 1 or July 1, he said. The ambulance company and town officials want to take some time to get the word out.
“We don’t want to surprise anybody,” Gugliotta said.
RVAC President Garrett Lake and Gugliotta met with the Town Board in September to discuss the need to expand billing to all calls in the district. At that time, they discussed with the board the need to expand the billing program and said they expected to implement it in 2023. Lake and Gugliotta, along with RVAC Vice President Joseph Oliver, returned for a follow-up discussion at the April 19 work session.
Board members had no objection to implementing the billing program as soon as the ambulance company puts the word out to the public.
The cost of fuel, equipment and supplies have increased dramatically, especially since the pandemic, Council Member Tim Hubbard said. Billing revenues will be “a good shot in the arm” for RVAC, because the money will allow the ambulance company to purchase much-needed equipment.
“I was flabbergasted when you told me how much a stretcher costs. They’re like $20,000 apiece, just for a stretcher,” Hubbard said. “The price of of latex gloves since COVID has gone through the roof. Everything that you guys deal with — it’s very expensive,” said Hubbard, who is the Town Board’s liaison to the ambulance corps.
As the population in the ambulance district has grown, the number of calls per year has also increased significantly. Last year, RVAC answered 5,504 calls, according to data provided by the company. As a result, the ambulance company has to supplement its volunteer corps with paid responders, officials said.
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Other than billing revenues, ambulance district taxes, assessed against real property, are the main source of funding for the district. In 2022, property tax revenues accounted for just under $1.5 million of the ambulance district’s operating revenues, according to the town’s adopted budget. Medical billing was expected to bring in about $80,000. The town’s 2023 adopted budget calls for just under $1.6 million in property tax revenue, and shows revenue of $2.06 million in medical billing if expanded billing is implemented, but about $100,000 if it does medical billing only.
The billing revenue will help the ambulance “stay afloat” without putting an extra burden on the taxpayers, Hubbard said.
The corps explains its decision in a letter to residents outlining the corps’ needs, as well as how implementing a billing system isn’t going to change how they serve the community.
“We cannot emphasize enough that this change will have absolutely no effect on the service our organization provides to you, our residents,” the corps writes.
“And it will in no way slow down or alter the level of urgent care we give to each patient we treat. There will also be nothing additional required from our patients should they require an ambulance, except for a signature on our patient care report,” according to the letter.
Anyone with questions should contact Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps at 631-727-2395. Someone will respond to every inquiry as soon as possible, Gugliotta said. Inquiries may be submitted through the ambulance corp’s website at www.riverheadvac.com and we will gladly respond.
The Riverhead Ambulance District takes in the entire Town of Riverhead except for the portion within the Wading River Fire District, where Wading River Fire Department Rescue provides EMS services. The ambulance district is a special taxing district in the town. The Town Board serves as the governing body of the ambulance district and contracts with Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps Inc., a nonprofit corporation formed in 1978 to provide ambulance services to the district.
The state enacted a law last year to allow fire districts that provide EMS service to bill for ambulance services also. Last fall, Wading River Fire District Commissioner Matt Wallace said the fire department would begin billing for in 2023.
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