A.
The Mayor and Council believe that the health, safety
and welfare of the citizens of the Borough are best protected if it assures
that all ambulances and ambulance units providing life support services are
able to provide a sufficient level of emergency care.
B.
The Palisades Park Emergency Medical Services along with
the Police Department have provided such care that meets or exceeds minimum
standards of providing advanced life support service.
C.
The New Jersey State Department of Health has issued
licensure for the Municipal Emergency Medical Services Program (the "Program").
D.
The Program has been in operation providing experience
and statistics regarding the service and the patients served.
E.
The Borough of Palisades Park has applied for a provider
number from the federal and state Medicare/Medicaid programs, enabling the
Borough of Palisades Park to institute a third-party payment plan (the "payment
plan").
F.
Most residents and visitors have a health insurance plan
or Medicare/Medicaid, which provides payments to relieve their payment obligations;
and as for Medicare, the Center for Medicare/Medicaid Services has issued
an opinion by the Office of Investigator General that municipalities that
operate ambulance service can waive copays and deductibles for Medicare patients.
G.
The governing body believes the residents and taxpayers
of the Borough, through their payment of taxes, have contributed sufficiently
to the maintenance of the Palisades Park Emergency Medical Services to be
alleviated from the responsibility of copayment for services rendered by the
Palisades Park Emergency Medical Services.
H.
It is in the best interest of the taxpayers of the municipality
to establish a third-party payment plan in accordance with Health Care Finance
Administration guidelines so that taxpayers will not be responsible for any
out-of-pocket expenses.
The Administrator of the Palisades Park Emergency Medical Services shall
be responsible for overseeing the plan's billing in cooperation with
the Chief Financial Officer of the Borough of Palisades Park (the "CFO") and
municipality's EMS Program Consultant, if applicable.
The Administrator and the CFO shall annually review the plan's
cost accounting records. The CFO shall report the accounting to the governing
body.
The Borough is authorized to enter into contracts with various hospitals
that provide ALS services to the patients that are transported by the municipal
ambulance service. This allows the hospitals to bundle-bill Medicare for services
rendered. The hospital will reimburse the municipality its transportation
costs within 45 days of receiving payment.
The CFO of the Borough shall annually, no later than February 1 of each
year, adjust the fee for services as set forth herein, and recommend the change(s)
to the governing body.
No individual needing emergency medical services within the jurisdiction
of the Borough, to the extent that services are available, shall be denied
said services on any basis whatsoever, including and not limited to residency,
ability to pay or any other factor. No person located within said Borough's
jurisdictional limits shall be denied emergency medical services to the extent
that same are available.
Except as may be arranged pursuant to a duly adopted emergency medical
service agreement, the fee to be charged by the Borough of Palisades Park
for emergency medical service shall be as follows:
The fee paid to the Borough for providing emergency medical services
shall be paid by the following:
A.
Payment by an insurance company for service provided
to an individual who has insurance coverage for same; or
B.
The payment of a fee by any person receiving such ambulance
services shall be waived if he or she has no medical insurance coverage in
effect and such person is a taxpayer or resident of the Borough.
A certified copy of this article shall be filed with the Borough Clerk
and applicable federal and/or state agencies.
