bmerritt77

Surprisingly enough money isn't an issue and people do get paid $15 per hour per run, and we are not a transporting service. I work full time at a ALS transporting department and spend enough time trying to write reports for billing and cost recovery I don't think that would fly well. Although you do raise a good point, as an officer I get paid by the department monthly, the rank and file gets paid quarterly. I do think money is a motivator and I also believe it should be a issue that gets looked at.

If you're spending tons of time on writing billing/cost recovery reports, then you should consider electronic medical records/billing. Typically free or very low cost...most reporting is done for you. $15 per hour per run wouldnt be much of an incentive for 160 trips but $50-100 per trip might help. I dont want it to seem like Im endorsing any products so if you message me I can tell you about a few open source/free/inexpensive EMR/billing programs that you could use. I would also be happy to answer other questions about the process. I used to manage billing for one of the largest counties in North Carolina so I have experience. Again, not looking to pick up any work, but I like to volunteer my help every once in awhile.

Let me get this straight about volunteer billing. You provide a service... the organization gets paid for the service... and the people doing the service don't get paid. Heck, the people in China assembling the iPhones at least get a couple of cents an hour.

Billing helps meet expenses but rarely covers all expenses, especially with a squad that only has 160 trips a year. Paying a stipend gets the volunteers at least a little money per trip but it would be impossible to pay everyone with the small amount of money generated by billing. And many, many non-profits of every type charge for services while only using volunteers.

The poster asked for suggestions to help with recruiting in his current situation. Billing could help. If the squad wants to become a paid service, that is an entirely different discussion. It would absolutely require additional funding-usually through tax increases.

Volunteer squad that bills is a good model for rural/small squads. Can pay stipends, less time spent fundraising/recruiting, and doesn't have to try to get taxes increased. Best of both worlds. And the billing component is not that complicated to implement or sustain.

You should consider a billing/subscription program if you do not already have one. I did billing and managed a subscription program a few years ago. There are many variables involved in calculating the potential amount of revenue generated, but you can estimate about $250 per trip. 160 trips=$40k into your budget. Many small squads use the extra income for equipment or per-trip stipends to the volunteers. That definitely helps with recruiting. There is less time spent on fundraising. People contribute money (pay for subscription) because they are potentially getting something in return. The programs are often structured so that patients never get sent to collections, so their credit would never be damaged by an EMS trip. Whether you agree with billing for volunteer work or not is probably been discussed ad nauseum in this forum, and is probably a discussion better suited for another post. However, you asked for suggestions to help with recruiting. Having a squad that generates revenue absolutely improves recruiting. I am no longer in the billing business so there's no attempt to solicit on my part. But if you have questions, I'm always happy to give free advice. That's how I try to help.

It might be helpful to know a little bit more about your situation. How many runs in a week? What's the population size of your territory?