FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) – Florence County Council agreed Thursday morning to develop a contract to hire a private company to issue EMS bills. County officials plan to contract with an outside agency in Winston- Salem, North Carolina.
Financial Director Kevin Yokim says the county made about $4.7 million last year. Council plans to draft a contract to negotiate about $250,000- $300,000, which is about the same amount the county paid in-house.
“We’ll be able to increase our collections, which will be a revenue benefit to the county,” said Yokim. “They keep up with any changes in laws. They are at the top of their game as far as that’s the business they are in.”
If the company approves the contract, EMS workers will also get more training on billing procedures. EMS Director Ryon Watkins says right now, EMS workers do not receive training on billing from an outside company.
“It affords an opportunity to have experts come in to assist our staff with training in regards to what we need to be on the lookout for and how we need to document out encounters with our patients to maximize our reimbursement,” said Watkins. “We’ve always done the best we can but we see an opportunity to benefit from this situation as well.”
Yokim says county officials will draft the contract. Officials hope to have the process finalized by May.
