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The Advisory Committee on Ground Ambulance and Patient Billing (GAPB), which is chaired by Asbel Montes (pictured speaking at EMS EVOLUTION 2022), wrapped up its November meeting with a recommendation for Congress regarding the future of out-of-network billing for ground ambulance in terms of plans that are regulated by the federal government.
The final recommendation is working its way through the federal government's process, and it is expected to be released at some point following Thanksgiving.
STAT News took a preliminary look at the advisory committee's recommendation and quoted TEMSA:
Supporters of local rate setting argue there’s a natural check on this method: a public process people can weigh in on.
“Local communities aren’t just going to go willy-nilly and raise rates to take advantage,” said Butch Oberhoff, president of the Texas EMS Alliance. “They’re still accountable to constituents. They would have to explain why they raised rates.”
TEMSA will take a very deep dive into the issue once the recommendation is released and what it means for the future of ground ambulance billing. We will connect the dots: what plans are regulated by Austin and Washington, which laws will be relevant going forward, etc.
Click here for an overview of the issue at the state level. Because of TEMSA's work earlier this year, Texas is the nation's model in terms of out-of-network EMS billing policy.
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