City of Oak Creek

Common Council Report

Meeting Date:  December 5, 2006

Item No.:        

Recommendation:  That the Common Council authorize the Mayor and City Clerk to renew the contract with CPR, Inc. for Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulance billing and to authorize CPR, Inc. to be our billing agent for Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulance billing on a month to month basis beginning in 2007.

Background:  CPR, Inc. has been the City’s BLS ambulance billing agent since 2000 and CPR, Inc. has been Milwaukee County’s ALS ambulance billing agent since the conception of the City of Oak Creek’s paramedic program in 2000.  As of 2007 Milwaukee County will no longer bill patients for paramedic services provided by our department and each municipality will be responsible to bill patients and will retain paramedic revenue recovered for the cost of providing paramedic service.

The Milwaukee County Association of Fire Chiefs is currently working on a Request For Proposal to aid in finding a preferred billing agent that each municipality can contract with if they so choose.  It is our intent that once a preferred billing agent has been identified by the County Chiefs Association and this agent suits our needs we will be seeking Council approval to contract with that vendor for our ALS and BLS billing needs.

To offset the new cost to municipalities of the billing service, Milwaukee County will reimburse an amount based on the number of ALS transports made.  The 2007-2009 ALS contract provides $30.00 per transport up to a $500,000.00 limit collectively for the entire Milwaukee County paramedic system units.

Fiscal Impact:  Adequate funds have been budgeted in the 2007 Fire Department Budget to cover the cost of the BLS and ALS billing service.

Prepared by: Brian M. Satula Fire Chief	Respectfully submitted, Patrick DeGrave City Administrator
Fiscal Review by: Beverly A. Buretta, CMC City Clerk