Independence Township paramedics are going paperless, and saving money too.
The township board granted Independence Fire Department’s request on July 17 to change billing companies to an electronic billing agent and electronic EMS Reporting System.
The fire department will sign a contract with Parastar for EMS billing for less than what they pay with AccuMed, and use the savings to pay for an electronic EMS reporting system from Zoll Data Systems.
A three year contract with Parastar will cost $23,675, $7,875 annually as opposed to $49,000 for the electronic system directly from Zoll. With the Parastar contract, the fire department will pay 7.5 percent from revenues collected for EMS billing services and an additional 1.75 percent annually for three years in order to acquire the Zoll Electronic EMS Reporting System. The fire department will pay 0.75 percent less than what they pay now for billing.
Currently, all EMS reporting is hand written on four sheets of carbon copy paper.
‘If you get the last page (of the carbon copy) than you aren’t getting much more than a shadow,? said Fire Chief Steve Ronk. ‘It (an electronic system) will take care of the issues that go with paper work.?
The electronic system (a touch pad computer notebook) compiles data so it is easy to access, instead of having to dig through piles of paper work. The stats of the care provided are readily accessible.
‘This will allow us to know how many males we treated, how many females we treated, how many IV’s we had successful on the first stick,? said Ronk. ‘This will also allow us to track our paramedics and make sure that they are performing proper care protocols.
‘The quality of insurance is a huge benefit to us,? he said. ‘We will be able to monitor the quality of our care now, where before it’s just been documentation and there’s been no statical review available to us.?
Over the next six months, the fire department will work out the details of the contract. Zoll will install the system, make sure it works properly between all three fire stations, and provide training.
‘This will ensure more accuracy in billing, it takes the human factor side right out of it,? said Ronk. ‘It’s quite a jump to clean up our EMS paper work and billing.?
The fire department should be operating by electronic EMS system Jan 1, 2008.