Scope

This policy shall apply to all fees charged for patient care services rendered by River Road Rescue Squad owned assets and employees to ensure persons served by our network do not have to worry about a bill before saving their lives.  

Statement

It is the policy of the River Road Rescue Squad to offer charity care, as applicable, to patients served unable to pay for service. If you are uninsured, underinsured, or have a copay, you will receive a bill for these services as a matter of compliance and continuity. Any balance remaining after insurance payment shall be written off as charity care upon request and as allowed by law, but will never be sent to collections.

Definitions

Charity Care: Healthcare services that have or will be provided but are never expected to result in cash inflows. Charity care results from a provider's policies to provide healthcare services a discount to individuals who meet the established criteria.

Soft Billing: If you are uninsured, underinsured, or have a co-pay, you will receive a bill for the services as a matter of compliance and continuity. Any balance remaining after insurance payment may be written off as a charity care request and is allowed by law, but will never be sent to collections.

Policy

River Road Rescue Squad, a federally recognized non-profit 501(c)(3) believes that requesting an ambulance should not mean having to worry about a bill or worse.  All of our providers drive to continue to push the boundaries and provide industry-leading care while strictly adhering to soft billing practices; charity care being one of the components that pair with soft billing. 

Charity care is free or discounted medically necessary healthcare that many hospitals offer to people who cannot afford to pay for treatment otherwise. It includes inpatient and outpatient services. Even if you have health insurance, you may qualify for charity care to pay the amount of your hospital bill that your insurance doesn’t cover.  Under the Affordable Care Act, non-profit hospitals must offer charity care to maintain their nonprofit status with the IRS. However each hospital handles the process in its own way as some may provide you more assistance. While we are not a hospital, we have chosen to match this standard for our ambulance operations.  Charity care is intended to be used after payments from other sources, such as health insurance, have been applied. 

Charity care shall be automatically extended to patient's served by River Road Rescue Squad assets and providers if the patient has already qualified for charity care at the receiving hospital or upon request.