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Advising the Congress on Medicare issues
MedPAC > Recommendations > Medicare payment for ambulance services (1)

Medicare payment for ambulance services (1)

June 14, 2013

The Congress should:

  • allow the three temporary ambulance add-on policies to expire;
  • direct the Secretary to rebalance the relative values for ambulance services by lowering the relative value of basic life support nonemergency services and increasing the relative values of other ground transports. Rebalancing should be budget neutral relative to current law and maintain payments for other ground transports at their level prior to expiration of the temporary ground ambulance add-on; and
  • direct the Secretary to replace the permanent rural short-mileage add-on for ground ambulance transports with a new budget-neutral adjustment directing increased payments to
    ground transports originating in geographically isolated, low-volume areas to protect access in those areas.

Appeared in: June 2013 - Chapter 7

Topics: Ambulatory care settings.