Article Written by LifeQuest Staff

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued a Proposed Rule to change how ambulance services would be reimbursed for mileage. These changes are only a proposal and are NOT currently in effect.

Under these proposed changes, mileage would be reimbursed at the tenth of a mile for dates of service on or after January 1, 2011. This fractional mileage proposal would change the current policy of mileage being rounded up to the nearest whole mile. This would apply to all trips up to 100 loaded miles. Mileage beyond 100 would continue to round to the nearest whole number.

If this Proposed Rule is implemented without changes, ambulance services will see a substantial decrease in Medicare reimbursement in the following years. According to CMS, this change would result in a $45 - $80 million a year savings for Medicare, meaning a $45 - $80 million reduction in payments to the EMS industry.

As you may recall, a transmittal was issued in July of last year to implement fractional mileage starting January of this year (2010). This transmittal was withdrawn. The fractional mileage policy change for 2011 is still in the proposal stages, meaning that you still have an opportunity to voice your concerns on the change and possibly impact how this Proposed Rule is implemented. Ambulance service...