by Nick Delgado

Guam - It's been nearly one year since the Guam Fire Department signed onto a contract with Lifequest Services to submit claims and collect payments for GFD's ambulance billing, but it seems the department has yet to spend a single penny. Fire Chief Joey San Nicolas says so far just over $100,000 has been collected for non-emergency and emergency ambulance runs.

The funding is supposed to go towards purchasing additional life saving equipment and provide training for agency personnel. San Nicolas says although funds were collected, spending the money is still subject to appropriations given by the Guam Legislature. The fire chief adds they are still juggling the numbers with the new billing system so they can project just how much more money the fire department will begin taking in.

San Nicolas said, "We are waiting for it to truly stabilize and get a good timeline, a couple months to really evaluate the consistent intake that we'll be getting on a monthly basis, but until then I'm hesitant to make any true projections at this point and as we work out more and more kinks and get our Medicare/Medicaid certification, that's also an influx of fundings, once that's done."

San Nicolas also says the funds collected go directly into the department's FLAME account.