Washington Watch 2011

In this issue of Washington Watch:

• Public Safety Spectrum Effort Gets Another Crack
• You're a Moderate Risk for Medicare Fraud
• Medicare Bonus Payments Prolonged Through 2011
• New EMS Courses from NFA, More to Come
• Vol Death Benefits Remain Alive in Senate FAA Bill
• House Votes Down Public Safety Grant Cuts
• Registration Ongoing for EMS on the Hill Day
• Memorial Service Announces 2011 Honorees
• White Paper Argues for Lead Agency in DHS
• Developing Community Paramedicine Programs
• New Medicare Relief Bills in Congress

Public Safety Spectrum Effort Gets Another Crack

The new year brought with it a new push to award first responders the long-sought D Block of the broadcast spectrum.

In the Senate, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) reintroduced the Public Safety Spectrum and Wireless Innovation Act, which would allocate the coveted spectrum, instead of letting it be auctioned off by the FCC. The bill is identical to legislation that died in the last Congress, and would direct more than $10 billion in proceeds from future spectrum auctions to help fund development of needed LTE (long-term evolution) networks. Without that help, many feel impoverished state and local governments won't be able to build them. The bill has five cosponsors, all Democrats, but other Senators like John McCain (R-AZ) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) also support the concept. They introduced a separate bill last year to reallocate the D Block to public safety, and also included a projected $11 billion in auction funding.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) has also released draft legislation that would reallocate the D Block and provide $20 billion in grants and loans to build a national network.

"This effort is about saving lives," Rockefeller told a Senate hearing in February. "To those who say we cannot afford this now, I say that we can, in no way, afford not to do it. We have to do it, and we have to do it now."

In the House, a related bill followed in February from Rep. Peter King (R-NY), who said current first-responder communications capabilities are "simply unacceptable." King's Broadband for First Responders Act of 2011 drew cosponsorship from Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and five other representatives from both parties.

"Public safety officials must have access to new technologies to perform increasingly complex duties," King said. "These technologies must have adequate and dedicated spectrum that is managed and controlled by public safety to ensure that the technologies will be more secure and reliable than those in commercial systems."

The reallocation is also supported by President Obama, who proposed an initiative in February that would provide $7.5 billion to help pay for the network. Obama's plan, the Wireless Innovation and Infrastructure Initiative, is intended to make 4G high-speed wireless available to 98% of the U.S. population and free up 500 MHz of spectrum to support the growing mobile-data market. It seeks $7 billion for building out a public safety network, plus $500 million from a new wireless innovations fund to pay for research and technical development.

"We're going to accelerate breakthroughs in health, education and transportation and deploy a new nationwide, interoperable wireless network for first responders, making sure they've got the funding and the frequencies that they were promised and that they need to keep us safe," Obama said.

The D Block is 10 MHz of spectrum adjacent to the 10 MHz already awarded to the Public Safety Spectrum Trust. While most public safety groups support its being given to public safety, at least two--the International Association of Fire Fighters and the Fraternal Order of Police--still support its public auction.

You're a Moderate Risk for Medicare Fraud

A new Final Rule published in February by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) ramps up the government's ability to crack down on fraud and abuse in federal healthcare programs, a leading EMS law firm warns, and portends greater compliance obligations and scrutiny for ambulance organizations.