Modesto weighs billing insurance firms for medical calls

The Modesto Fire Department is considering billing insurance companies when it responds to emergency medical calls, such as when firefighters help someone who has fallen and broken a leg, had a heart attack or a stroke.

Fire Chief Sean Slamon briefed officials about the proposal Monday on the first day of the city’s hearings for its 2016-17 budget year, which starts July 1. He emphasized that the insurance companies’ clients who need the Fire Department’s help would not be responsible for the bills.

He said fire agencies throughout the state are billing insurance companies to recover costs, and he estimated the Fire Department could bring in about $1 million by billing for emergency medical calls and similar calls.

This comes as the Fire Department has faced tight budgets and struggled to keep all of its stations open in recent years. (The department plans to close on July 1 its one-person station at Modesto Airport, which has not had commercial passenger flights for nearly two years.)

Slamon said in an interview that Modesto is looking at billing insurance companies for medical calls and vehicle crashes.

He said the Fire Department still is researching the proposal but he expects it could come before a City Council committee for review in August or September before the full council considers it. Slamon said he expects the program could start by the end of this year if the council approves it.

The council’s Effective Government Committee is holding hearings this week on Modesto’s proposed $361 million operating budget for 2016-17. At $117 million, the general fund makes up about a third of the proposed operating budget. It primarily pays for police and fire services.

City Manager Jim Holgersson said last week that the proposed budget essentially would maintain the same levels of service. For instance, the proposed budget would allocate 218 sworn positions for the Police Department, down from 219 in the current budget. The department proposes to reallocate one detective position to a civilian supervisor position.

The proposed budget calls for the city to use a practice it has not used in two years – not to fully fund some funds and divert those savings to help balance the general fund. The city calls this practice “taking a holiday,” and it’s something it did during the recession and its aftermath.

The 2016-17 budget calls for not fully funding the workers’ compensation, information technology, employee leave reimbursement and liability insurance funds by about $4.4 million and shifting that money to the general fund. City officials said this is prudent because of the funds’ reserves and their expected expenditures.

Holgersson said the amount of the holiday could change based on such factors as the trend for sales taxes, which are the general fund’s biggest revenue source.

The hearings are open to the public and are being held in the basement chambers of Tenth Street Place, 1010 10th St. Tuesday’s hearing is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Wednesday’s hearing is from 9 a.m. to noon. A hearing could be held Thursday if needed.

Mayor Ted Brandvold’s 100-day budget review committee is expected to make a presentation to the council next month regarding its findings and recommendations ahead of the council adopting the 2016-17 budget.

This story was originally published May 16, 2016 at 4:19 PM with the headline "Modesto weighs billing insurance firms for medical calls."