Levy failure means Coshocton EMS patients will be expected to pay all invoices in full
COSHOCTON − Residents who use Coshocton County Emergency Medical Services will start receiving billing statements with an explanation when they normally would not have in the past.
The agency continues to consider ways to decrease expenses and increase revenue following the loss of a property tax levy in the recent spring primary. The levy had 3,708 votes against it and 3,180 votes for it, according to official vote totals from the Coshocton County Board of Elections. Executive Director Todd Shroyer said he feels a second try in the fall general election would lose by a larger margin.
Shroyer also knows people point to the new station that recently opened as a sign the agency is doing well, but that came from grant funding and bonds for capital improvements that can't be used for operations. A public open house for the new station is being planned for May to engage with the public. Shroyer said they are looking for donations and sponsorships for any refreshments.
New billing statements
Starting with April billing statements, patients will receive a notice explaining the policy change due to the failure of the levy. All patients will be expected to pay all invoices in full once received. Balances will not be written off for county residents as they have been in the past. This is for people without insurance or after insurance pays.
By law, those with Medicaid can't be billed. Shroyer said this change will only put a small dent in their projected $750,000 deficit, but every bit will help.
Shroyer said they do have a hardship policy in place with their billing company, MedBill Resources of Newark. It's similar to the hospitals where one will need to provide income statements and copies of all bills for consideration of any discounts or forgiveness.
Personnel woes
Coshocton County EMS has not lost any personnel yet. There are 55 employees with two retirements slated for later this year. Shroyer said he doesn't plan on replacing them.
"We've been talking to the crews and trying to reassure them nobody is losing their jobs," Shroyer said. "We're doing the best we can with what we've got,"
Shroyer previously talked about not stocking a crew at the Warsaw station overnight. This has been implemented when call offs and vacations decrease staffing.
Shroyer said this already hurt them recently when a traffic crash had two ambulances running patients to Canton as the weather was too bad for a medical helicopter to fly. This meant a squad from Newcomerstown had to answer a call in the City of Coshocton as mutual aide.
"There are days when we'll have crews everywhere. But we're going into vacation season and you can't expect people to give up their vacations. As we go into vacation season, there's probably going to be a lot of nights where we'll be running pretty thin," Shroyer said. "Most nights it won't hit us, most of the time at night, we slow down, but we're going to have nights like we did (recently) where the hinges just come off the barndoor."
Leonard Hayhurst is a community content coordinator and general news reporter for the Coshocton Tribune with more than 15 years of local journalism experience and multiple awards from the Ohio Associated Press. He can be reached at 740-295-3417 or llhayhur@coshoctontribune.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @llhayhurst.
This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Coshocton County EMS will bill all eligible patients since levy failure
