VA set to index to Medicare rates
Friday, July 21, 2023
Member Alert: July 21, 2023
AAMS is working with the American Ambulance Association (AAA) to delay the implementation of Veterans Administration regulation AP89 “Change in Rates VA Pays for Special Modes of Transportation” that would lower all ambulance payments for veteran beneficiary travel to parity with Medicare. The reason for that delay was to work with VA on a contracting solution that would allow for VA to contract with willing emergency ambulance providers at a higher rate to prevent the significant financial impact on ambulance providers.
Yesterday, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) held their 2nd virtual meeting with the ambulance industry regarding the implementation of the rule, and to discuss their plans for contracting. In that meeting, VHA executives informed the ambulance industry that any contract would only apply to those ambulance requests that originate from a Veterans Administration facility; those contracts would not apply to emergency ambulance requests that come from outside VA.
VHA confirmed today that any request for emergency ambulance services that come from outside the VA (including all 911 calls) would be reimbursed at the Medicare rate, regardless of whether that provider has a VA contract. VHA officials indicated that there was official guidance to this effect but that this guidance was not available to the public.
This policy represents a significant change; this means that any VA contract between an ambulance provider, ground and air, would not apply to 99% of emergency ambulance transports. All 99% of those transports would be reimbursed at the Medicare rate, the first time in over 3 years since the rule was proposed that this was made clear.
AAMS and AAA continue to work with Congressional contacts to achieve a delay in the effective date of this regulation. Following the clarity provided by the VA yesterday, we are also working with the leadership of both AAMS and AAA to address the broad implications resulting from implementation of the rule.
We will continue to update both memberships on our continued activity on behalf of our members.
|
|
Email to a Friend