EMS

Continued from Page 3 available” and must furnish the town a quality-control plan for customer service and billing,” along with monthly reports listing “key performance indicators and metrics involving its service,” including how many calls it received and responded to, patient contacts made, hospital transports, mutual aid calls and all response times.

It must also give the town monthly financial reports on customer billing, including amounts billed and paid for services from all third-party funding sources but excluding names, addresses or “personally identifiable patient information.”

The provider must show proof of “standard insurance” coverage written by carriers with an A-V or higher financial strength rating.

Kearny is requesting applicants submit three bid proposals: a base bid requiring one state-licensed ambulance, with two EMTs, stationed “at or near the center of the residential neighborhood of town, operating on a 24-hour-perday basis, seven days a week”; an alternate bid requiring a second state-licensed ambulance, with two EMTs, similarly stationed, “operating on a 12-hour-a-day basis, seven days per week, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and a second alternate bid, with the same scenario, except it would be “operating on a 24-hourper-day basis, seven days per week.”

The town will rate each bid proposal on the basis of a point system keyed to cost, the potential provider’s prior service history, management plan, customer billing experience and reporting system.

Town Administrator Stephen Marks said the new agreement would be awarded as a “competitive contract” and would be “based on (the provider’s) qualifications” rather than solely on pricing. Once a vendor is narrowed down, the mayor and Town Council will vote on a provider.

Since RWJBarnabas took over as interim EMS provider, Marks said about 25 Kearny residents got billed improperly for ambulance service between approximately Jan. 7 and Feb. 25 as a result of what Marks called a “system-wide error” in the provider’s billing network triggering a miscalculation of charges to the patients.

He said the provider promptly followed through, initially with notifications to the residents, and then by dismissing all the billings.