Apology to Comstar in works after Cole remarks

Outgoing Selectan and Assistant Rescue Chief Jason Cole ... Comstar took a dim view of his words at Dec. 5 meeting.

The Lebanon Board of Selectmen has decided to draft a letter of apology to ambulance billing service provider Comstar in the wake of disparaging comments made by outgoing Assistant Rescue Chief Jason Cole two weeks ago at a special Rescue Department meeting regarding its fiscal insolvency.

At that meeting Cole noted what he characterized as deficiencies in the Comstar billing process including lack of pursuit of collections of delinquent accounts and other problems.

Since then Comstar executives have expressed displeasure at those characterizations espoused by the assistant chief. The town plans to publicize an apology to Comstar through announcements in area newspapers in an effort to improve its relationship with Comstar subsequent to Cole’s derogatory comments.

Meanwhile, Comstar helped the town make its first painful steps toward righting the Rescue Department ship this week by outlining in crystal clear fashion what has to be done to, as Selectman Ben Thompson calls it, “stop the bleeding.”

During Thursday night’s meeting, Selectmen Chair Karen Gerrish and Thompson along with town treasurer Jeanette Lemay went over the list, which included setting up a reserve account to represent what may be collectible from more than $161,000 listed as receivables as of Sept. 30.

The town is conservatively hoping to get at least $61,000 of that into the Rescue account. That $161,000 figure includes the $97,000 in old receivables, which most believe has little chance at being collected at a rate much more than pennies on the dollar.

Thompson conceded today that it’s not a pretty picture, and taxpayers may be footing the bill sooner or later, but the town still has options and is looking at any and all options to mitigate the taxpayer pain after the mess left behind by the outgoing Rescue Department regime.

In this week’s letter sent by Comstar executives, including manager Scott L’Abbe, it was noted the Rescue Department under Chief Samantha Cole, and her husband, Jason, had been consistently derelict in managing the paper trail between ambulance run sheets, follow-up patient paperwork and insurance billing, even to the point of neglecting vital government correspondence that now threatens the department’s “participating provider status” with Medicare.

In addition Comstar figures show that Lebanon Rescue was lax in reporting their PCR (patient call runs), which dictate billing for ambulance services. Another problem was that the department was doing this using paper instead of electronically. Several runs, it was noted, were rejected because notification by Lebanon Rescue did not adhere to proscribed timeframes for delivery.

It was also reported that patient information requested by Comstar after several PCRs was never submitted and therefore not billable.

Comstar also noted that billing information had been sent out to Lebanon Rescue at least once a year informing them of typical average area ambulance service rates so they could adjust their rates upward appropriately, however, since 2008 Lebanon Rescue saw fit to never change those rates.

As a result, Comstar indicated that Lebanon ambulance rates are 100-200 percent below what insurance companies normally pay.

The Coles both resigned their Rescue Department positions a week ago effective with the new year. Jason Cole also stepped down from his selectman's seat.

The entire Comstar letter can be viewed on The Lebanon Voice Facebook Page under "Recent Posts by Others" courtesy of Becky Batchelder, who also supplied the video of Thursday's meeting.

The videotape of Thursday's meeting can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaCtOYlKhZA&feature=youtu.be

Lebanon selectmen are in agreement with the suggestions Comstar noted in this week’s letter, Thompson said today.