EMS contracts

[Jgervin]

I was wondering, when a private EMS company bids for a city contract and wins, say a $10M contract for 4 years. Do they get the $10M and then no longer bill patients for transport? Or do they get the $10M from the city and then also bill the patients they transport?

 

[medicdan]

I was wondering, when a private EMS company bids for a city contract and wins, say a $10M contract for 4 years. Do they get the $10M and then no longer bill patients for transport? Or do they get the $10M from the city and then also bill the patients they transport?

Every contract is written differently, but in general, the service that transports, bills for their services. The $10m contract price theoretically pays for some of the infrastructure, preparedness, unbillable services (patients without insurance and refusals), etc.

 

[akflightmedic]

And the 10M is not paid up front....it is broken up into monthly, quarterly, or semi annual payments which means the company has to carry itself for a while before getting paid back.

There could also be benchmarks which cause money to be withheld if certain performance standards are not met and on flip side there could be bonuses for meeting goals as well.

Additionally, if a city has a tight budget, those payments could be stretched out even longer.

 

[Anjel]

Just a side note. Where I work we bid for the city contract and won but we did not get any money. The only money we get is for services billed to the patients. Which can work of your run volume is high enough.

 

[Tigger]

There are also some ambulance companies that "win" a bid where one stipulation is that they pay the city or county for the right to be the exclusive provider. This is sometimes known as a franchise fee.

 

[AlphaButch]

Some are also set up so that the company bills the patient and/or insurance, then at the end of the year - they get reimbursed up to a contracted $ for transports done which were not paid by insurance/patient.

Every contract is different.