Fire Paramedic Service wants $400K to cover unpaid ambulance bills

Winnipeg's Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) says it needs help making up for $415,000 in lost revenue because of people not paying for ambulance rides.

In a report to the city's finance committee, the WFPS said the problem dates back several years.

Patients who are transported to hospital in an ambulance are invoiced by the WFPS, but not everyone ends up paying for the trip.

"In any business there is an expectation that some customers will not pay for services or goods supplied to them," the WFPS said in the report.

"Accounting rules require organizations to reflect the level of this expectation when they report revenue in the organization's accounts."

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The WFPS said the problem comes down to a failure to effectively budget for the delinquent accounts of ambulance users — a problem that it says has been going on for almost 10 years.

"[The] budget was set too low in all years since 2006, including 2015," the report states. "The budgeted level of bad debt provision was lower than necessary in every year other than in 2004 and 2005."

Some of the unpaid bills are for transportation to hospital or treatment at the scene of an incident, the report said.