BRISTOL — Selectmen have adopted new ambulance rates suggested by Fire Chief Ben LaRoche to meet the increases in operational costs.
In making his recommendation to raise rates about 12 percent, LaRoche said he had analyzed information from the town’s billing company, rate information from around the state, and increases in operational costs in the last two years, along with budgeted costs for 2018.
More than 45 percent of Bristol’s ambulance transports are covered by Medicare, which historically has paid 98.39 percent of the allowable costs. Medicaid pays 100 percent of the allowable costs and accounts for 12.4 percent of the town’s transports. Ten percent of the transports were for the uninsured, who paid 6.29 percent of the amount billed at the allowed rate.
In looking at rates around the state, after weeding out those that are exceedingly high or low, LaRoche found that Bristol’s rates were 10 to 15 percent lower than the average, and the town’s mileage rates were 26 percent lower.
Operational costs over the three years have increased by 12 percent, due in part to the town’s implementation of a new wage scale.
The resulting recommendation was to increase the basic ambulance rate from $775 to $868 and make similar adjustments to other rates. The specialty care rate of $2,147.71 increased to $2,405. The treat-and-release rate increased from $51.50 to $60, and the mileage rate increased from $14.22 to $18.
“It’s a fairly sizeable increase,” LaRoche said, “but it sets us up close to the average.”
He suggested reviewing the rates annually in the future.
In discussing LaRoche’s request for a deputy fire chief — a question that will appear on the the town meeting warrant — Chair Rick Alpers was the only selectman to fully back it.
“Whenever a department head says there’s a need, I’d be hard-pressed to say no,” he said. “To me, this is a need.”
J.P. Morrison and Paul Manganiello said they could not support the article.
“I see the need, but I cannot support it this year,” Manganiello said.
Don Milbrand also said he sees a need, but it is something the townspeople will need to decide.
Les Dion called it a “tough sell with the building” — a reference to the town hall and police station building and renovation project — but also agreed it should be on the warrant so voters could make the decision.
Selectmen voted, 5-0, to support another article that would spend $25,000 to prepare an architectural design and engineering study of the fire department, but this time it was Alpers who expressed the reservations.
“It came in late, and I’m not sure I can support it,” he said.
LaRoche said that, with plans in hand, the town could seek a grant to expand the fire station, which is cramped for space and has a crack in the wall.
“If you don’t have plans, you won’t have an accurate price,” LaRoche said. “These plans should be good for a while, so they won’t be out of date if it’s not funded right away.”
He said the study would include geotechnical work, design, and cost estimating, which would provide “a better number for a structural engineer to evaluate the cracking in the wall.”
Dion noted that the recommendation to address issues at the fire station came out of the town’s space needs study.
Milbrand offered an amendment that would pay for the study by taking money from the town’s unassigned fund balance, but after Town Administrator Nik Coates pointed out that it would draw the fund below the level the NH Department of Revenue Administration recommends keeping on hand, Milbrand’s amendment failed, 2-3. That is when the selectmen voted to recommend the warrant article as originally written on a 5-0 vote.
5 February 2018
Home News