House Passes 2012 Medicare Boost
The deal is far from sealed, however; the Senate has yet to vote, and President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the bill as currently written.
Over the last few years, we’ve had to fight for them annually. But the good news is those now-familiar Medicare ambulance add-on payments—2% for urban ground ambulance services, 3% for rurals and a base rate increase (currently 22.6%) for trips beginning in “super-rural” areas—have already cleared a key hurdle for 2012.
On Dec. 13, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 3630, the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011, which extended the payments through the end of 2012.
The deal is far from sealed, however; the Senate has yet to vote, and President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the bill as currently written. Negotiations are ongoing. In the meantime, the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) is urging members and EMS advocates to keep the pressure on. In a December call to action, the NAEMT noted: “Continued underfunding by Medicare is forcing EMS agencies to scale down services and personnel, which could ultimately jeopardize access to prehospital emergency medical care for all Americans.”
Medicare is the biggest payer to most U.S. EMS agencies, and its patients account for roughly half of all transports. However, it reimburses many organizations at less than their actual costs of providing services. “Inadequate Medicare reimbursements,” the NAEMT warned, “restrict the ability of our communities to hire and train sufficient numbers of qualified EMS practitioners and update technologies and equipment.”
The House bill requires a pair reports on possible reformation of the ambulance fee schedule. One would come from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the other from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). It would also adjust the Medicare sustainable growth rate formula for two years, preventing a 27.4% reduction in physician payments and giving them a 1% increase instead.
The NAEMT also wants Congress members to cosponsor the Medicare Ambulance Access Preservation Act (H.R. 1005, S. 424), which would provide a 6% Medicare increase for five years.
Those interested can e-mail their members of Congress through the NAEMT website.
