CMS has expanded its Accelerated and Advance Payment Program for the duration of the public health emergency, authorizing Medicare contractors the ability to provide accelerated or advance payments. 

The Pennsylvania EMS Provider Foundation has announced its annual call for grant applications. The grant will be awarded to EMT(s) who would like to further their education and become a Paramedic. The deadline for submitting applications is end-of-business day, February 16, 2020.

On November 8, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the 2020 premiums, deductibles, and coinsurance amounts for the Medicare Part A and Part B programs.

CMS has announced the 2020 Ambulance Inflation Factor (AIF) for determining the payment limit for ambulance services. The AIF for CY 2020 is 0.9 percent. Please make sure your billing staff is aware of this change.

Some opportunities are a special gift and honor, whether it is saving a patient’s life or advancing one’s involvement in an organization with a great mission. Brian LaCroix, President of National EMS Management Association (NEMSA) has begun his journey of a two-year term in his role as president for the organization dedicated to supporting and educating leaders in paramedicine. His honorable accreditation presides his threshold of retirement from EMS Chief for Allina Health.

A new payment model, Emergency Triage, Treat and Transport (ET3) Model, was announced Thursday, February 14, that will make Medicare reimbursement available for certain non-transport ambulance services and ambulance transports to alternate destinations.

“[This] announcement shows that we can radically rethink the incentives around care delivery even in one of the trickiest parts of our system. A value-based healthcare system will help deliver each patient the right care, at the right price, in the right setting, from the right provider,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the 2019 Ambulance Inflation Factor of 2.3%. Beginning January 1, 2019, Medicare reimbursement rates will increase slightly.

The Medicare Prior Authorization Model for Repetitive, Scheduled Non Emergent Ambulance Transport is being extended in the current model States of Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia for one additional year to allow CMS to continue to evaluate the model and determine if the model meets the statutory requirements for nationwide expansion under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015. The model is now currently scheduled to end in all states on December 1, 2019.

Source: https://www.novitas-solutions.com/webcenter/portal/MedicareJL

House Bill 1013, payment for treat no transport, has passed the House on October 17, 2018 at 187-0.

See House Bill 1013 here: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2017&sind=0&body=H&type=B&bn=1013

Many of you have been following the new Medicare card project timeline and have probably already started to see some of the new ID numbers trickle in.

We want you to know that AIM is prepared! The most recent Medicare milestone, scheduled in October, is to add the new MBIs, for those members assigned one, to the 835 remittance advice. You can still submit using the HICN, but if a MBI exists, Medicare will return the ID in the remit 835 Loop 2100, Segment NM1 (Corrected Patient/Insured Name), Field NM109 (Identification Code).