Cataldo Ambulance reaches accord with AG on billing

An ambulance company that services the lower North Shore reached an agreement with the state attorney general’s office Thursday that requires it refund customers who were wrongfully billed.Attorney General Martha Coakley said an accord with Cataldo Ambulance Service stemmed from complaints by customers who were billed for using the company’s ambulances in the aftermath of automobile accidents.According to Coakley, under the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act, “medical service providers are barred from billing customers for amounts in excess of motor vehicle insurer payments for Personal Injury Protection (PIP) benefits in a variety of circumstances.”Coakley’s office filed an Assurance of Discontinuance in Suffolk Superior Court Thursday, in which Cataldo Ambulance agreed to reimburse consumers for any balance billing payments they made from January 1, 2006 to the present. Cataldo Ambulance also agreed to correct any reports previously made to credit-reporting agencies relating to the balance billing demands and to remove any liens placed on consumer property without consumer consent.Court documents filed in conjunction with the case include allegations that Cataldo Ambulance charged consumers for the portions of the company’s ambulance bills that the auto insurers had already rejected as unreasonable. This “balance billing” practice fails to remove the individual patient from disputes that should occur between the insurer and the service provider, as is intended by Massachusetts law, said Coakley spokeswoman Jill Butterworth.Cataldo Ambulance, headquartered in Somerville, includes Lynn, Revere, Saugus and Malden in its coverage area.”We’re pleased that Cataldo Ambulance has resolved this issue with our office,” said Coakley. “Medical service providers should not balance bill customers already covered by the automobile insurance PIP coverage. This is unfair to customers, and can have an unwarranted and harmful impact on the consumers’ credit scores.”As part of the settlement, Cataldo Ambulance must also make a payment to the state of between $50,000 to $100,000, based on the level of restitution that it is determined to be owed to customers.The case was investigated by Assistant Attorneys General Peter Leight and Glenn Kaplan of the office’s Insurance and Financial Services Division.