The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), an advisory agency to the U.S. Congress, has been tasked by the Congress to conduct a study of the Medicare ambulance fee schedule.
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), an advisory agency to the U.S. Congress, has been tasked by the Congress to conduct a study of the Medicare ambulance fee schedule. The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 requires MedPAC to evaluate the Medicare ambulance payment system. Specifically, MedPAC’s mandate is to assess the appropriateness of certain ambulance add-on payments, to determine their effect on providers’ margins, and determine if there is a need to reform the Medicare ambulance fee schedule. The report is due June 15, 2013 but may be published earlier.
Policy analyst staff of MedPAC made a preliminary presentation at the April 5, 2012 MedPAC meeting. The PowerPoint is available here and it contains very interesting statistics based on a retrospective review of Medicare claims data.