MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION 

The Pittston Township Ambulance Association seeks the public support via a Membership Donation Subscription program. This program, open to residents of Pittston Township and surrounding communities, provides the residents a means to show their support of the local EMS operation via an annual suggested donation. The donation stays right here in our community and is tax deductible in accordance with IRS rules and regulations.

The general outline of this program is as follows:

1) Membership subscriptions are opened annually and mailed to Pittston Township residents of record and to those in neighboring communities who have requested memberships in the past. The membership is enforce for a calendar year.

2) Upon providing the suggested monetary donation, the residential location and all of the persons residing in a common household, along with visiting guests, are exempt for any costs not covered by insurances for Ambulance Service provided by the Pittston Township EMS, or its Mutual Aid providers, along with Advanced Life Support Services when utilized. Upon receiving EMS from the Pittston Township Ambulance, the patients permits the EMS provider to bill their insurance carrier for services rendered and receive payment for services provided.

3) The Pittston Township Ambulance only provides and responds to calls received via Luzerne County 911 dispatch. Due to the number of actual Emergency calls received, non emergent responses, such as routine transports from hospitals to home or for doctor office visits, will not be made or scheduled.

4) Public training programs (such as CPR training) when offered, can be attended with payment for cost of program only.

5) You can be notified electronically of any community emergency or other important safety information via your email address.  This is known as our Community Electronic Notification Service (CENS) program.  Stay informed quickly of community hazards and changing travel, weather/local road conditions.  By providing your email address at the time of a new or renewal of membership, you can become enrolled in this convenient notification service. There is no obligation to be enrolled in the CENS program to have an active membership. You will be sent an email to confirm your email address and to complete the enrollment process. The CENS program is active 24/7/365.

6) Additional benefits maybe offered as determined by the Ambulance Association Board of Directors.

NON SUBSCRIPTION RESIDENTIAL RESPONSES

Persons/residential locations having a need for EMS and utilizing the Pittston Township Ambulance will be responsible for any and all costs not reimbursed by medical insurances. Upon receiving EMS from the Pittston Township Ambulance, the patient permits and authorizes the EMS provider, or its Mutual Aid providers, along with Advanced Life Support Services when utilized, to bill their insurance carrier for services provided and receive payment for services provided. The patients will then receive a follow up billing for payment of any non-covered expenses incurred.

BILLING FOR SERVICES AND COLLECTION

Please note that ALL EMS responses/calls are billable.  This includes responses where a person/patient refuses transport to a hospital for further care.  By accepted professional standards, EMS/EMT's are recognized health care professionals and their evaluation of a person/patient is considered a professional service and as such, is a billable expense to the person/patient.    

The Pittston Township Ambulance Association (PTAA) utilizes the services of a billing agent that performs this function as authorized by the PTAA. Our current billing agent is Northeast Management Services Inc., 645 Mercer Ave, Kingston PA 18704. Every person who receives Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is billed either direct to their insurance, or direct to the patient. These charges will include all EMS performed and that includes paramedic services if utilized. Once payment is made by the insurance carrier, a distribution of that payment in made to the assisting paramedic service if utilized. In any case, the patient is directly responsible for payment of services provided.

Every effort is made to secure insurance information at the time of service, when the patient is signed into an Emergency Department at a medical facility. When this is not possible, a letter requesting this information is mailed to the patient within a short period after. The patient or their personal representative is required to fill out the information request and return it to the billing agent.

The providing of EMS to the community is a costly endeavor and the PTAA is obligated to collect payment in a fair and equitable manner for all services provided. The Pittston Township Ambulance Association does also use the services of a collection agency in situations where a patient/member/subscriber fails to make any payment, a non member fails to make payment on balance due, or any patient ignores repeated requests for information regarding insurance coverage or payments due. Therefore, please do not ignore requests for information sent to you regarding our services provided. If there are any questions on our services or billing invoices, please contact our billing agent or us directly.

The Pittston Township Ambulance Association will work with any person and payments due, if there is a financial hardship being claimed. However, it is the patients obligation to inform us or our billing agent for the financial hardship to be considered.

MEMBERSHIP MAILING LIST

Every two years (even numbered) we do a complete makeover of our business and residential member list.  The data list comes from the 911 Center and is a list of residents by name and address only.  We then cross reference and compare this with our previous list to ensure the most complete and accurate information.

The 911 Center list originates from the phone company.  Each time a resident moves into a home/location and has a land line phone service installed, the phone company is required by Pennsylvania State Law to provide the 911 Center with the name of the resident and the physical address location of where the phone number is installed within 72 hours after the installation. This is the best way to ensure indentity in the 911 Center for your home. 

Whereas there are many options for phone service, such as cell phones and voice over internet protocol (VOIP), these phone numbers are NOT supplied to the 911 Center.  Cell phones are fully portable, thus no address is provided.  VOIP phone numbers are also not provided to the 911 Center as these numbers are serviced by many different internet providers and are transient in nature.  

Therefore, residents who have such phone numbers/service (cell and VOIP) mayl not be on information provided to a 911 Center.  Your name/resident location may not be on mailing lists if you subscribe to these types of phone service for your communication needs and do not have a land line phone connection.

Please take this information into consideration when deciding on your phone communication service needs. 

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Access available to residents subscribing to the Annual Membership Drives, the objective of the CENS program is to provide the residents of our service area with a rapid notification method in the event of an emergency situation that may affect specific area neighborhoods or the community as a whole. In addition, the PTAA may send out general safety information that could be specific to the notification. Also the PTAA may send out information regarding our EMS operation that maybe of interest to you.

Depending on your Internet Service Provider, you can set the priority of the CENS to your needs. These email notices can be sent direct to your cell phone or another electronic source, so that it gets to you promptly.

Important notes of the CENS program -

1) Your life and safety is ultimately important. When faced with an emergency situation, first ensure your health and safety and then dial 911. Do not wait for a CENS notification, nor should the CENS notification itself take precedence for common sense health and safety precautions.

2) A CENS notification will not be issued for routine emergency responses made by emergency services into or for any neighborhood. Nor will any information be issued that may compromise the integrity of the community situation or be prohibited by law. A resident name and/or address will not be in any CENS notification. When a CENS notification is issued, all residents and emails entered into the CENS program will be sent as a blind copy to protect the privacy of those receiving the CENS notice.

3) Any CENS notification is accurate and based on known information at the time of issue. The CENS program is operational 24/7/365, therefore you can be notified at any hour of the day. Whereas community situations may and do change rapidly, the subsequent accuracy of the initial notification may not be valid. The notice is only designed to inform of a situation that is pertinent to a specific neighborhood or the whole community if applicable.

4) Emergency Services personnel first objective is to response and securing the emergency situation. Additional notices via email will be made as soon as practical and will be limited to information specific to the situation, without compromising the incident.

5) A CENS notification is a notification only. It is not a press release nor an official notification from a government sources, unless indicated.

6) Residents are requested NOT to respond to areas where emergency services personnel are responding to or are working at. This can impede the ability of emergency services personnel to effectively do their assignment of protecting life and property.

7) The PTAA values the trust each and every resident has in your community ambulance service and our CENS program. Your email address is not provided or resold to anyone.

8) Any misuse of the CENS notification by any person will result in removal from the CENS program system.

9) You can request removal of from the CENS program by replying to any email notification and requesting removal in the subject line or content/body of the email. You may also note a change of email address at any time.

10) The CENS program can be changed or modified as needed at the discretion of the PTAA.