The EMS attorney firm Page, Wolfberg and Wirth shared on the afternoon of April 1, the White House reported the President just signed a bill extending the Medicare ground ambulance bonus payments until March 31, 2015 and delaying the implementation of ICD-10 codes until at least October 1, 2015.   

 

This means that the 2% urban, 3% rural and 22.6% super-rural bonuses that were set to expire on March 31, 2014 will remain in place for another year.  Ambulance services should not see any interruption in these bonus payments.  In addition, the ambulance industry now has until at least October 1, 2015 to prepare for the transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10 code sets. 

 

H.R. 4302 provides temporary relief to certain providers while Congress considers a more permanent fix to combat rising Medicare costs.  In the meantime, ambulance services are already exploring new delivery models and considering non-traditional revenue sources in order to be successful in the healthcare reform era. 

 

This delay does not mean sit and wait another year.  ICD-10 codes are coming and now is the time to get prepared for ICD-10 compliance and to use this delay to get ready - like training your crews to be more focused on "specificity" in patient care documentation - which will take time to do.

 

Source:  Page, Wolfberg and Wirth EMS Attorney Firm

 

ICD-10:  What is it?

The Professional Ambulance of Wisconsin completed an interview in 2012 that is relevant today yet regarding a forthcoming change from ICD-9 to ICD-10, and what this change means for those who write patient care reports and do the billing.  ICD-10 increases the EMS billing codes by several thousand and places significant emphasis, or "specificity", on patient care reports.  Click here to listen to the interview PAAW previously completed on this topic.