Purpose of Audit

The objective of our audit was to review ambulance service billing and collection procedures for the period June 1, 2013 through July 27, 2016.

Background

The Village of Alden is located in Erie County. The Village, which has a population of approximately 2,600, is governed by an elected five-member Board of Trustees. The annual budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year is approximately $2.3 million.

Key Findings

• The Board has not adopted written policies and procedures for ambulance service billing and collection.
• An outside billing agent creates billing reports, issues billing invoices to patients and collects fees for the services rendered.
• The Board does not formally approve and document all billing write-offs and adjustments prior to them being made.

Key Recommendations

• Develop and adopt written policies and procedures for ambulance service billing and collection. The procedures should address periodic reconciliations of services rendered, billed and collected and how uncollected accounts are to be handled.
• Consider assigning a Village employee to prepare billings or, if the service is to be contracted out, periodically seek competition.
• Approve and properly document all billing write-offs and adjustments prior to them being made.