Members of Congress express concerns about air medical access in letter to the VA

August 8, 2022: Congressional members have sent a letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Denis McDonough expressing concerns over the VA’s proposed rule to change reimbursement rates for air medical services. The letter requests the VA to review the impacts this rulemaking will have on veterans’ healthcare and work to ensure our veterans in rural communities have adequate and appropriate access to air medical services before issuing a final rule.

The VA issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to amend reimbursement rates for air medical services to match the Medicare Part B Ambulance Fee Schedule. This fee schedule was created in 2002 using aggregated ground and air ambulance transportation data and has never been adjusted, aside from an annual inflation factor. If finalized, this rule would set the reimbursement rate for ambulance transportation at about half of the median cost for air ambulance transport. A significant decrease in reimbursement rates for air ambulance services will decrease the availability of necessary emergency health care for our veterans, especially in rural areas.

View letter here.