HCHD votes to increase ambulance payment

By Jan White
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CROCKETT – During the Hospital Board Meeting held on Tuesday, Sept. 20, members voted to increase the monthly payment for their ambulance contract. The Ambulance Committee, after meeting with Regional Director Pete Wolf, discovered they had misread the terms of the contract. 

According to their three-year contract, which began in April 2020, the board agreed to pay $20,417 per month with an increase on the date of their anniversary in April 2021 to $367 per month. But there was an oversight, and the payment was not increased beginning in 2021. If contract terms were now met, the Hospital District would owe over $6k in back fees. However, the ambulance service did not ask the board for past reimbursement but simply requested that for the last seven months of the contract, they pay the $367 increase, amounting to approximately $20,784 per month. 

The board voted to pay the increase beginning in September, at the same time thanking the ambulance service for their generosity in not requiring the back payments. 

The board also voted to make several minor amendments to the 2021-22 budget in order to align with expenditures and comply with requirements.