Hoffman Estates may waive fees for nonambulance medical calls during Now Arena events

Hoffman Estates trustees Monday will discuss the possibility of waiving fees for paramedic responses not requiring ambulance transport during events at the Now Arena.

The village’s fee for emergency medical services that consist only of evaluation or treatment without transport would otherwise be $250.

But for most events at the village-owned arena, the Hoffman Estates Fire Department provides stand-by EMS services paid for by the organizations that produce those events.

The waiver of fees for treatment without transport was requested by the Now Arena management based on the common practices of other such venues in the region, Hoffman Estates Fire Chief Alan Wax said.

“It made sense to us, so that’s what we’re proposing,” he added.

Ambulance transport, however, would incur the current fee of $3,394 set by the village board in 2023, which put Hoffman Estates at the 75th percentile of 20 area fire departments’ fees for advanced life support.

Medical calls during events at the Now Arena aren’t very common, but not unknown either, Wax said. Furthermore, ambulance transports are rarer than treatment of minor injuries and scrapes.

The potential change will be discussed and possibly recommended for formal action by the village board’s public health and safety committee at 7 p.m. Monday.

It is the one aspect unique to Hoffman Estates in a recommended ordinance fulfilling a new state requirement for all ambulance service providers to publish their rates to the Illinois Department of Public Health by Oct. 1 of each year.

Then, on Jan. 1 of each following year, insurance companies will be required to pay the rates published for ambulance services minus patient copays and deductibles.

These new state requirements are an extension of earlier provisions to the federal “No Surprises Act” that aimed to protect patients from unexpected medical bills. But the 2023 legislation concerned only the bills of medical facilities, not ambulance services.

epeterson@dailyherald.com