Fire Recovery USA: Generating New Revenue Streams for Fire Departments

While most fire departments qualify for reimbursements by insurance policies, they do not possess the ability or the mechanism to identify recoverable events and construct a billing procedure. Fire Recovery USA, a cost recovery firm established by Fire fighters to offset the cost of impact for fire departments, focuses primarily on the effortless billing of fire inspections, emergency incident response costs, EMS transport, and first responder billing. Serving fire departments in 43 states, Fire Recovery USA competently combats the pain points of billing and revenue reimbursements for emergency fire recovery services. “The goal of Fire Recovery USA is to develop impact related cost recovery for fire departments to help them with their budgets,” states Craig Nagler, CEO of Fire Recovery USA.

In an effort to execute a complete paperless inspection and streamline inspection operations, Fire Recovery USA offers state-of-the-art mobile and cloud-based software—STREAMLINE INSPECTIONS. The mobile software assists fire departments in organizing and performing their fire prevention inspections; also referred to as community risk reduction. The intuitive iPad-based software enables seamless fire inspections which on completion are signed by both customers and fire inspectors. Records of fire inspections that are inventoried in the STREAMLINE software database can be searched for and accessed whenever required. The system also allows for automatic task accomplishment acknowledgement, billing of inspections, and confirmation of receipts for the reimbursable inspections.

Apart from electronically billing inspection services, the STREAMLINE INSPECTIONS software also provides a complete tracking of customer responses for fire departments. In case a bill is not reimbursed in due time, a follow-up call is initiated and the response is logged into the system.

The goal of Fire Recovery USA is to develop impact related cost recovery for fire departments to help them with their budgets

Communications from both ends—phone calls and emails— are traceable at any time if required. Additionally, Fire Recovery USA also offers complete visibility and transparency to fire departments by providing them with the ability to log into the system and scrutinize the status of their claims—an inspection bill that is yet to be reimbursed or a motor vehicle incident cost that is to be recovered. “We are trying to recover costs for and assist fire personnel in performing services for the fire department as a part of their team, not just as a vendor,” says Nagler.

Fire Recovery USA’s comprehensive suite of services also comprises emergency medical services (EMS) cost recovery, utilizing best-in-class technology that allows for seamless integration with ePCR systems to streamline submittals. The EMS program also consists of on-site training for patient care reporting, adhering to HIPAA mandates and documentation. Real-time patient care reporting coupled with streamlined emergency cost recovery makes Fire Recovery USA the preferred cost recovery provider for both fire Emergency Medical Services departments. The EMS program has also succeeded in delivering efficiencies and augmented revenue collection in municipalities.

Fire Recovery USA’s engagement with the Durham fire department highlights its cost recovery capabilities. Durham Fire Department was utilizing manual billing and collection processes for their fire prevention. Their collection rates were in the 65 percent range mailing invoices and waiting for payments. The fire department elected to utilize Fire Recovery’s service of automation, paperless delivery and accountable tracking. Now invoices were delivered in hours, electronically, invoices were tracked by days not months and follow up was utilized to expedite and assure payment. Today, Durham collects 97 percent of all invoices Fire Recovery sends. A difference of over a $400,000 annually.

“We aim to assist fire departments by bringing our business experience and knowledge to the table that can help them develop their cost recovery programs,” says Nagler. Leveraging a decade of experience, Fire Recovery USA is en route to expand their services to the non-public services domain.