The Plymouth Board of Works voted this week to declare some EMS bills from 2012 delinquent and uncollectible, but one member wondered if there’s more the city can do to collect outstanding bills in the future. Jeff Houin noted that some people need a bit more motivation than collection letters and phone calls, before they’ll pay their bills.
Clerk-Treasurer Jeanine Xaver assured Houin that steps are being taken to increase the city’s collection rate. Xaver pointed out that her current EMS clerk particularly enjoys making collection calls and is much more aggressive than her predecessor. That resulted in a $12,000 increase in collections last year.
During Monday’s Plymouth Common Council meeting, City Attorney Sean Surrisi said the city’s also been able to boost its Medicare and Medicaid collections, thanks to its contract with the Rooney company. “This was a consultant that was able to go after some additional money through the state that’s available on medical billing,” Surrisi explained, “and we actually had a good result of somewhere around $60,000 they were able to recover last year.”
Council members voted to renew the Rooney agreement, with the city paying a flat fee of $4,000 for the year.
