The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released its calendar year (CY) 2020 proposed payment rule for the Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) on July 29, 2019, and it included the proposal for Medicare’s new ambulance cost data collection program.

TEMSA provided a full overview of the proposal to TEMSA members on August 1. Check your e-mail for the full summary.

TEMSA will hold a November 25 seminar on the subject. Registration will begin in September.

To review:

• TEMSA has had two seminars on the subject, and TEMSA’s next seminar will be Monday, November 25 in Fort Worth.
• In exchange for renewing the ambulance extender policy, Congress included a provision in the Balance Budget Act of 2018 that will require ground ambulances to submit to a cost data collection program to collect cost, revenue, utilization, and other information determined appropriate by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).
• According to CMS: “Such system must be designed to collect information: (1) needed to evaluate the extent to which reported costs relate to payment rates under the AFS; (2) on the utilization of capital equipment and ambulance capacity, including information consistent with the type of information described in section 1121(a) of the Act; and (3) on different types of ground ambulance services furnished in different geographic locations…”