The Medicare Ambulance Access, Fraud Prevention, and Reform Act of 2014 (H.R. 5460) was recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill would make several key reforms to the Medicare ambulance fee schedule including as of April 1, 2015 the permanent extension of the current temporary Medicare 2% urban, 3% rural and super rural add-on payments.
“In developing H.R. 5460, Congressmen Greg Walden (R-OR), Peter Welch (D-VT), Devin Nunes (R-CA) and Richard Neal (D-MA) developed a sensible and bipartisan approach to addressing below cost Medicare reimbursement of ambulance service providers and implementing important reforms,” said Jimmy Johnson, AAA President. “This is the most significant legislation on Medicare reimbursement and policy since the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 and the creation of the Medicare ambulance fee schedule.”
In addition to making the current relief permanent, H.R. 5460 would:
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Implement prior authorization for Basic Life Support (BLS) non-emergency ambulance transports to and from dialysis centers,
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Change the status of ambulance service suppliers to provider.
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Direct the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to collect ambulance cost data using a survey methodology.
“Ambulance service providers and our paramedics and EMTs are often the health care professionals to first come into contact with a patient and we are providing state-of-the-art medical care to ensure better patient outcome,” said Johnson. “H.R. 5460 will not only address several of the current issues facing our profession but also put us on a path for Congress to make data-driven decisions on the future role ambulance service providers will play in our changing health care system.”
Source: American Ambulance Association
