On Thursday, March 10, Congressmen Charles Boustany (R-LA) and Richard Neal (D-MA) reintroduced the Medicare Ambulance Access Preservation Act in the U.S. House of Representatives.  The bill number is H.R. 1005.  The bill is identical to the bill (S. 424) reintroduced in the United States Senate on March 1 by Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY), Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Kent Conrad (D-ND).

H.R. 1005 and S. 424 would implement a 6% increase under the Medicare ambulance fee schedule for ambulance transports originating in urban and rural areas and extend the bonus base payment of 22.6% for ambulance transports originating in super rural areas.  The increases would be for five years and take effect January 1, 2012.  The larger increases would replace the current temporary relief of 2% urban, 3% rural and the super rural bonus payment which are set to expire at the end of this year.