New York City Fire Department

Billing and Collection of Emergency Medical Services Fees

New York City's Fire Department is responsible for providing ambulance service in New York City. We examined the Department's practices for billing and collecting fees for this service, and found that improvements are needed. In particular, we identified significant weaknesses in the automated billing system used by the Department. Because of these weaknesses, billing and collection activities cannot be adequately monitored by Department officials. We also identified a number of weaknesses in the Department‘s billing and collection practices. For example, bills are not always issued in a timely manner, undeliverable bills are not followed up on, and unpaid accounts are routinely written off without authorization and without an assessment of their collectibility.

For a complete copy of Report 99-N-9 click here.
For a copy of the 90-day response click here.