Yesterday, Congress passed the Protecting Medicare Access Act of 2014, which reauthorizes several key portions of the Medicare program, including the Medicare Ambulance Add-On Payments, through April 1, 2015. These payments provide additional payments for EMS transports of Medicare beneficiaries originating in predetermined urban, rural and super-rural zip codes.
The current rates for additional payments are
- Urban: 2%
- Rural: 3%
- Super-rural: 22.7%
These payments play an important role by helping cover unreimbursed expenses such as the cost of medications and medical procedures.