Ambulance Fee Issue Resurfaces

Supervisors Also to Take Up Proposed Animal Board, Ferry

The possibility of charging ambulance fees in Prince William will resurface Tuesday when the Board of County Supervisors reconvenes after a month-long recess.

Unlike most of its neighbors, Prince William does not recover ambulance fees, and that, board members decided last year, needed to be reassessed.

At the board's request, Prince William Fire Chief Kevin McGee hired a consulting firm to conduct a feasibility study on the issue. The findings of the roughly $100,000 study will be presented during Tuesday's meeting and outline possible charges, opportunities and barriers to implementing the fees, McGee said.

"This is common practice not only in the commonwealth but across the nation," McGee said, noting that Loudoun County is the only other area jurisdiction that doesn't recover fees. "Patient care will remain our primary concern, and nobody will be denied service if this takes effect."

According to the study conducted by the law firm Page, Wolfberg & Wirth, the county could recover as much as $3.1 million the first year it charges Medicare, Medicaid and insurance companies for ambulance runs, McGee said, noting that the number is just an estimate.

McGee said ambulance fees vary with the level of care EMS technicians provide, but county residents would not end up paying out of pocket. He said the county still needs to determine what it will charge for emergency medical services. Medicare will pay the county 80 percent of a claim that falls between $216 and $595, and Medicaid will pay 80 percent of a claim that falls between $150 and $721. Any gap in coverage would be addressed by the county, since taxpayers contribute to fire and rescue services.

With the feasibility study complete and a green light from the board Tuesday, McGee said, the next steps would be to raise public awareness, educate EMS technicians, develop a policy and submit applications to Medicare, Medicaid and insurance companies. McGee said the final plan would need the board's approval, which he hopes would happen within a year.

Also at Tuesday's meeting, the board is scheduled to address a resolution that would establish a 13-member Animal Advisory Committee. The group would keep supervisors apprised on issues at the county animal shelter and make recommendations to the board on how to promote animal welfare and encourage responsible pet ownership in the county, according to a draft of the resolution.

The idea of creating a committee surfaced more than a year ago, but efforts had stalled as officials worked to please all parties involved. Animal activists wanted the committee to report directly to the board, but county police, who oversee the shelter, wanted the committee to work through law enforcement officials. In the resolution to be presented Tuesday, the committee would report directly to the board.

"I think the police will remain the lead agency here; it is just a matter of getting help from the citizens committee and giving them a venue to come to the board with suggestions and their programs," said Supervisor John D. Jenkins (D-Neabsco), who proposed the initial resolution.

Fairfax and Loudoun counties have similar committees. Animal advocates said the committee is needed in Prince William to help manage the shelter, which is overcrowded and understaffed, taking in more than 8,000 animals yearly.

Also on Tuesday, the board is scheduled to hear about a feasibility study conducted this year to see whether a commuter ferry would be a viable option to move people between Prince William and Washington and Maryland. Officials close to the project did not want to release any findings until the meeting.