By COLLIN BREAUX
Holmes County is considering a program allowing the county’s Emergency Medical Services department to recoup Medicaid funds based on service runs.
Alissa Narode with consulting firm Public Consulting Group explained the terms of the potential program to the Holmes County Board of County Commissioners during a meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 7.
‘It’s a supplemental payment program,’ Narode said. ‘We’ve worked to set up the program here in Florida. ‘¦ When you provide an emergency transport, someone bills for Medicaid, you get about $190 a transport.’
Providing an emergency transport currently costs Holmes County around $850, ‘maybe even higher,’ based on estimates, Narode said.
‘What this allows you to do-we fill out a cost report every year, look at your expenditure data, a bunch of different data, and you get a supplemental payment every year,’ Narode said. ‘The high-level estimate that we did, without looking at the data, we think it’s about $12,000 annually.’
Total payments, should Holmes County enter into the program, will be upwards of $95,000 a year. Commissioners did not make a final decision at the Nov. 7 meeting and are considering regulatory aspects of the proposal.
Florida counties currently in the program include Gadsen, Baker, and Okaloosa.
Public Consulting Group gets 6% on the fee service and 3% on the manage care side.
‘If that was upwards of $70,000 to you all, it would be a little over $15,000,’ Narode said.
The matter is expected to be further discussed at a special meeting in the future.
GARETT VALCOURT 
Jim Saunders 
Dara Kam 