Later this month, the Reno Volunteer Fire Department will begin billing insurance companies of patients they take to the hospital.
"We will take whatever the insurance company gives us, if they are willing to pay the entire bill or if they are only willing to pay part of it. We won't be sending anything to the people of Reno," said Randy Lisk, Reno's assistant fire chief.
He said people would only have their insurance company billed if they were taken to the hospital. Insurers will be billed by a local billing company that will distribute the funds to the department.
Third-party billing for rescue squad calls is a trend throughout Ohio that is relatively new in the area. Representatives from several local fire departments say Washington County is one of the last in Ohio to adopt the practice.
"All of the surrounding counties have been involved in it for years," Lisk said. "The county commissioners in Monroe County have gone with a paid (EMT) squad and are using third-party billing. Noble County also has third-party billing; so do Morgan and Athens counties.
"Those neighboring counties that do bill have done so for a long time," he said.
Lisk said he did not have an estimate on how much money third-party billing would raise.
The department will use the money from third-party billing to pay its steadily increasing operating costs. With the rising costs of gasoline and the increasing amount of squad runs and fire calls, the department's fuel costs have nearly tripled in the last year, Lisk said.
"It's looking like we're going to be needing a new squad (vehicle) pretty soon, and we have no funding for that," he said. "We feel we need extra funding to keep the doors open and keep this service going for the people.
"Times have changed and we need additional fundraising," Lisk said. "The levies aren't enough right now. We hope people come out to our socials and fundraisers. The public has always been great in their support for us and everything we do, and I don't see that changing."
The Devola Volunteer Fire Company has had third-party billing for several months. Devola fire Chief Mike Lee said their initial estimates projected the practice would raise $70,000 a year for their department.
He said he could not immediately say how much third party billing has raised for the department, but their initial estimate on how much billing raised annual could be accurate.
"We've been billing since February," Lee said. "We've looked toward using it for upgrading our equipment and for recruitment and retention. It's been hard to get people to volunteer anymore."
Salem Township Volunteer Fire Department instituted third-party billing a year ago, but has not received a penny due to an error by their billing company, said Jill Treadway, assistant squad chief.
"It was our idea that this would help us not have to close our doors," she said. "We want to be there for the community. We needed funding and the least invasive way of doing it was soft billing."
Treadway said insurance companies already put aside money for paying ambulance bills, so it should not raise individual insurance rates.
Lisk said even if insurance rates do rise because so many squads are going to soft billing, Reno's participation should not make a significant difference.
The Marietta Fire Department instituted third-party billing in 2006.
