Contact your Members of Congress Today!
On May 18, 2023, Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Susan Collins (R-ME), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Bill Cassidy, MD (R-LA) introduced S. 1673, The Preserving Access to Ground Ambulance Medical Services Act of 2023. This is the Senate companion bill to H.R. 1666, introduced earlier this year by Representatives Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), Terri Sewell (D-AL), Buddy Carter (R-GA) and Paul Tonko (D-NY). These pieces of legislation would extend the current temporary increases under the Medicare ambulance fee schedule of 2% urban, 3% rural and 22.6% super rural for another three years. Additionally, the Senate version of the bill would go even further by increasing the add-on payment levels for urban from 2% to 3.4%, for rural from 3% to 4.3% and for super rural from 22.6% to 26.2% to help offset the increased costs of providing ground ambulance services.
The last extension of the add-on payments was scheduled to end on December 31, 2022, but our champions on Capitol Hill were able to secure a two-year extension through December 31, 2024. The additional three-year extension is critical to keep the add-on payments in place through ambulance data collection and provide time to Congress to then use the data to reform the Medicare ambulance fee schedule.
The AAA is asking all EMS providers to contact their U.S. Senators and Representatives requesting them to cosponsor H.R. 1666 and S. 1673. Just follow these steps:
- FILL OUT YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION: This will automatically ensure your message goes to the correct Members of Congress.
- CLICK SEND: Your message will go to your U.S. Senators and Representatives and you will receive a confirmation email.