Plymouth Board of Public Works & Safety settles 6 year old ambulance bill

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Plymouth Fire Chief Steve Holm asked the members of the Board of Public Works and Safety to weigh in on a disputed ambulance bill. 

During Monday’s meeting Holm said when patients dispute a bill, he reviews the bill and looks at the circumstances.  The chief said a couple of weeks ago he was made aware of a patient who had started the process to dispute a bill.  As the chief began his research, he learned the billing was from 2018 and there was a mix-up with the address. The address in the chart and that the hospital had was from when the patient lived there 10 years prior. 

The bill went through the city’s third-party billing, came back to the department and they tried to bill it with that bill being returned.  The bill went to collections, and they eventually found the right address.  The bill was sent to the patient and that was the first time the patient had received a bill for service.

The city attorney said the bill is 6 years old so they can’t submit it to insurance. The total amount is $547, and the option was to pursue the full amount or a settlement.  The patient has agreed to pay 15% of the bill which is what the collection agency receives if the city withdraws the bill from collections and writes it off as a bad debt.

Board member Dave Morrow motioned to settle the account with the patient paying the 15% or $82.13 and the city writing off the billing.  The patient was willing to make the payment to get the blemish off his credit report. 

The Board unanimously approved the settlement.