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HHS Publishes Final HIPAA II Regulations

02/01/2013

On January 25, 2013, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a Final Rule implementing sweeping changes to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This “Omnibus” Rule combines four different rulemakings and makes final a number of long-awaited proposed changes to the HIPAA regulations.  The bulk of the changes concerning the ambulance industry center around regulations proposed under the Health Information Technology for Economic and...

FAA Final Rule Creates Stricter Safety and Equipment Regulations for Helicopter Air Ambulance Operations

02/25/2014

New rules from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will have a significant impact on helicopter air ambulance services.  These regulations implement new operational procedures and require additional equipment for helicopter air ambulances in response to an increase in fatal helicopter air ambulance accidents.  The new rules identify four common factors in those accidents- inadvertent flight into Instrument Meteorological Conditions, loss of control, controlled flight into terrain, and...

All Medicare Contractors Must Soon Process Codes for Non-Covered Services

09/01/2011

Starting January 1, 2012, Medicare contractors will have to accept and process claims for services such as wheelchair van transports, treatment without transport, and other ambulance services that are not covered by Medicare.  Please note that this does not require Medicare to pay for these non-covered services, it merely requires that they process claims with non-covered service codes to facilitate coordination of benefits or payments by secondary insurers.  Ambulance...

Retroactive Payment for Ambulance Services

06/04/2010

CMS Announces Plan for Retroactive Bonus Payments

Ambulance services should have received the long awaited retroactive “bonus” payments that were implemented by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in March 2010.  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it will begin to reprocess affected claims from the first half of 2010.  ...

CMS Publishes Final Rule on Fractional Mileage

12/01/2010

On November 29, 2010, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published in the Federal Register the official Final Rule that will implement changes to many Medicare Part B payment policies, including the Ambulance Fee Schedule (AFS).   The published version of the Final Rule mirrors the advance copy obtained by PWW on November 2nd.  
 

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CMS Changes Stance Regarding Coverage of Transportation Services Under Certain State Medicaid Plans

05/15/2010

Ambulance services have a reason to breathe a little easier today because CMS has backed off on a Final Rule that would have allowed states to amend their “benchmark” and “benchmark equivalent” Medicaid plans to exclude coverage of non-emergency transportation. A revised Final Rule, issued April 30, 2010, now expressly requires states to assure necessary transportation to and from providers for all beneficiaries enrolled in benchmark or benchmark-equivalent Medicaid plans.  ...

CMS Final Rule Regarding Ambulance Signature Requirements

12/01/2008

In November 2008, Medicare released the Final Rule that contains more changes to the beneficiary signature requirements contained in 42 CFR §424.36. The rule becomes effective on January 1, 2009.
 
Summary of the Final Rule
 
PWW's summary of the changes of the final rule are as follows: 

·        CMS did not adopt the proposed language at 42 CFR §424.36(a) that would have required...

Red Flag Rules

10/25/2008

FTC Announces it Will Grant a Six-Month Delay of Enforcement of the “Red Flag Rules”

Ambulance Services Now Have Until May 1, 2009 to Implement Identity Theft Prevention Programs

There is good news for many ambulance services who have recently learned, or may not yet be aware of the fact that they are subject to the “Red Flag Rules” – new regulations that would require most services to implement and administer an Identity Theft...

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