Officials from the Tri-Valley Fire and EMS District announced this week that effective March 15, the fire district will begin invoicing residents’ insurance companies for ambulance services for those residing within the fire district in Zanesfield, Valley Hi and Jefferson Township.
However, once the insurance company has paid its portion of the invoice, residents of the fire district will not incur any out-of-pocket expenses.
“For more than 200 years it has been our policy to not invoice our residents, only people living outside our district that needed our services were ever invoiced,” representatives said. “However with the rising cost of doing business, we must now change our policy.
“Effective March 15, the Tri-Valley Fire District has come to the hard decision that we need to start invoicing our residents’ insurance companies for ambulance services.”
This change means that Tri-Valley Fire District will be using an outside billing company, Medicount Management Inc., to do all of the ambulance billing.
Starting March 15, everyone whom Tri-Valley Fire District transports via ambulance will have their insurance company invoiced.
If you do not have insurance and live within the district, you will not receive an invoice.
If you live inside the district and have insurance, the insurance company will be invoiced by Medicount Management lnc. on behalf of Tri-Valley Fire District.
Once your insurance company has paid its portion of the invoice, residents of the fire district will not be responsible for the remaining balance of that invoice, nor should they receive any kind of invoice, fire district officials said.
There is a chance that you might be contacted by Medicount Management Inc. to verify or obtain your insurance information on behalf of Tri-Valley Fire District.
Non-residents will continue to be responsible for any cost their insurance company does not cover, or if uninsured, will be responsible for the entire invoice.
For fire district residents who receive an invoice in error, make sure to contact Chief Luann Davis or Clerk Becky Sheipline.
If you have any questions regarding the new policy, contact Chief Davis at (937) 599-3473 or the clerk at (937) 407-7107.