Billing Policy

Why do we bill

We bring the emergency room to your bedside or to the scene of a remote accident with advanced equipment and highly trained personnel in a promt mannor which does come at a cost. In order to offset our impact on taxpayers we make a reasonable attempt to recover for services rendered just like your docotors office or any hospital. People pay for health insurance and it would not be fair to our tax payers if we did not take full advantage of billing for services rendered to offset the costs of providing a service. Funds from our billing cover approximately 50% of our operating budget.

SLA’s Billing Policy

Sand Lake Ambulance (SLA) does not pre-screen for financial status of patients requesting ambulance service. The organization transports patients regardless of their ability to pay. SLA is a non-profit 501c3 organization whose fees are dictated by industry standards.

Ambulance transport is covered under most insurance packages. Under Medicare guidelines, a ‘reasonable attempt’ must always be made to collect all unpaid fees. This is to insure a ‘standard practice’ of collection is in place, as opposed to showing favoritism to any specific individual.

For patients deemed as ‘Self-Pay’, SLA makes every attempt to work with the user of our service. It is our policy to never garnish a person’s wages or place a lien on property in an effort to collect payment for service.

Furthermore in 2005 + 2006 SLA has absorbed approximately $66,000 dollars in uncompensated care.

Billing Questions

Please direct any questions to our billing department at 674.2221 ext 3.

Protected Patient Information

Please see our Notice of Privacy Practices (NPP) document for information on how patient information is handled.

Records requests can be made by filling out the follow form: Authorization for Release of Heath Information pursuant to HIPAA – OCA Form 960. This form needs to be signed and send via mail to PO Box 222, W. Sand Lake, 12196 OR faxed to: 518-674-2221. Please give us 7-14 days to validate your request.