In February of 2009, the State of Texas implemented the Texas Ambulance Services Supplemental Payment Program (TASSPP) in February 2009. It is a state and federally approved program that offsets a portion of the loss incurred when providing services to Medicaid and uninsured patients.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has mandated that reimbursements through the TASSPP program will only be permitted for charity care patients. The City of Allen does not currently have a policy for charity care. In order for the Allen Fire Department (AFD) to continue receiving funds through the TASSPP program, the City of Allen (COA) must adopt a charity care policy. To continue participating in TASSPP we must have a policy in place by October 1. 2019. This policy must detail charity determination requirements for billing purposes. The proposed COA charity care policy is attached.
The proposed policy defines the eligible charity care population as:·
- Does not have 3rd party insurance - health, auto, etc. (uninsured)
- And does not have the ability to pay - no expectation of payment
Based on historical EMS transport data, it is estimated that 30% of the current patient mix is uninsured. From the uninsured pool, the AFD will then determine if patient can/will be able to pay for services during the patient billing process. It is estimated that 80% of the uninsured patient mix will classify as charity care patients.
It is anticipated that the adoption of a charity care policy will have little to no effect on EMS transport revenues. The COA has previously adopted "insurance only" billing for COA residents. Currently COA residents who are uninsured receive no bill, so the adoption of a charity care policy will not further reduce revenue from COA residents. For EMS transports of non-COA residents the AFD practices a soft collection methodology, sending two invoices to non-COA residents. If the non-COA resident is unable to pay, no further attempts at collection are initiated and the charges are written off.