It is the policy of the City of Plano to provide ambulance services to our community without regard to a patient's and/or guarantor's ability to pay for these services. The purpose of this resolution is to establish a charity care policy for uninsured patients without the financial means to pay for their care for various reasons. It is not the intent of this policy to provide charity care to patients who have the ability to pay or patients who have private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, or other third-party coverage.
In 2021, Plano Fire-Rescue transported 3,609 uninsured patients to the hospital. The gross charge for these patients was $3,013,112.99. The City of Plano received $121,018.01 (4%) in payment for these charges.
The Ambulance Supplemental Payment Program (ASPP) is a partnership between the State of Texas and the Federal Government to help agencies recoup their losses from uninsured patients.
The City of Plano is eligible to participate in this program if a charity care policy is adopted. Full charity care reduction (100% write-off of ambulance service charges to charity care) shall be granted to patients earning less than or equal to 400% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), as published annually by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The City of Plano and/or its contractor(s) shall rely on financial data provided by the patient and may also utilize data from credit bureaus and other sources to determine if the patient is eligible for charity care. Once it is determined that the patient is eligible for charity care, the City of Plano or its contractor(s) shall make no further attempts to collect payment from the patient.
The ASPP has been adopted by Dallas, Irving, Houston, El Paso, Garland, Corpus Christi, Frisco, and many others in Texas.