SOUTH DAYTON — New York state has passed legislation allowing volunteer fire departments to bill for EMS services provided as part of their 2022 state budget. It is referred to as EMS Cost Recovery Act.

During the COVID-19 pandemic the cost of providing emergency medical services skyrocketed at an exponential rate. This increase has placed even more of a burden on volunteer fire departments already struggling to cover EMS costs, funded primarily through existing fire taxes and donations, departments could not afford to continue providing critical emergency services without raising people’s taxes.

Ambulance services affiliated with fire departments make up 46% of all ambulance services in the state of New York and account for over $100 million annually in denied cost recovery revenue that is then passed down to taxpayers. Previously, volunteer emergency medical services that operate as part of volunteer fire departments were not able to charge insurance companies, Medicare, or Medicaid for their ambulance services. They have therefore been forced to recoup those expenses in their taxpayer-funded budgets.

When volunteer fire departments must turn to taxpayer funding for services that would otherwise be covered by insurance, it can affect their ability to procure necessary personnel, equipment, and supplies. This legislation provides over $100 million in local property tax relief across the state by shifting the funding for these services from the taxpayer to the insurance company. Premiums will not be raised since insurance companies already provide for these costs when charged.

With the passing of this legislation into law, New York will join every other state in allowing cost recovery for volunteer fire department emergency medical services. The South Dayton Volunteer Fire Co. in cooperation with the South Dayton Fire District will be billing for ambulance services, which in turn will cover the cost of EMS services, which include the ambulance, fuel, insurance, medical direction, medication, equipment, training, and many other expenses. Many of these expenses are mandated to us by the NYS Department of Health. All revenue from billing by law must be used to offset the costs of EMS services.

With the billing of services provided by the South Dayton Volunteer Fire Co. and the South Dayton Fire District, it will relieve the burden of the cost of EMS services from all the taxpayers in the district as a whole and allow for insurance companies to pay for these services, instead of all the taxpayers, including members of the department, which receive no property or fire tax breaks. The members also do not receive any financial compensation for their time they volunteer to the community, by providing fire and EMS services.

Under the new law if the department chooses not to bill, and advanced life support measures are needed. The agency providing the ALS intercept cannot bill the patient, but instead has to bill the agency requesting the intercept, which would fall on the department and taxpayers if the billing is not enabled. This would lead to thousands of dollars a year in increased cost. And due to federal regulations for medical billing, we are unable to bill just for ALS calls. So, after much research, discussion and debate about this legislation that is imposed on us, we have decided that the best course of action due to this legislation is to bill for services, to avoid any further burden on our taxpayers.

“With this in mind, we have decided that residents of the district will not be charged for copays and co-insurance, just their deductibles, and assistance will be available for low-income patients meeting income criteria,” the department said in a statement. “Due to the complexities of medical billing, we will be contracting with a third party medical billing service. We appreciate your continued support as we navigate this legislation to continue to diligently serve our neighbors in the community.”