Article: USE AN AMBULANCE, PAY UP, NORFOLK SAYS THE CITY HAS HIRED A PRIVATE FIRM TO COLLECT FEES.(FRONT)

Byline: CINDY CLAYTON, STAFF WRITER

NORFOLK -- Concerned that millions of dollars in ambulance fees have gone uncollected in recent years, the city has hired an outside company to take over billing and collection.

For 1997, when about 21,000 people were taken to hospitals by ambulances in Norfolk, the city treasurer sent out $2.11 million in bills. The city collected $772,096, for a collection rate of 37 percent.

When the city includes outstanding bills from previous years, the collection rate sinks to about 19 percent on a total of $4.1 million.

The city began billing for emergency medical services in 1971, said Fire Chief Donald A. ...

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