Air ambulance fees could be set at double Medicare rate under bill
Reprints
Wyoming lawmakers are set to consider a bill that would set the payment for emergency air ambulance services for injured workers at “approximate” twice of what federal Medicare pays for such services, according to a bill filed Tuesday.
H.B. 35, sponsored by the state’s Joint, Health & Social Services Interim Committee, would address payments and procedures for emergency air transport, giving the state’s Department of Workforce Services Workers' Compensation Division directives on how to manage claims.
The new language would give air ambulance providers 45 days to submit a claim for review and that the division shall offer payment in accordance with the caps. Under the proposal, the provider has 30 days to accept the offer or the division will consider it a “rejection of the payment offer.”
From there, the injured worker, billed for the service, may submit a claim to the division and that the employee “may, but is not required to, use any payment received… for payment of air ambulance services,” according to the bill.
Read Next
-
Costly air ambulances burden comp system
Concern about the prices charged by air ambulances — an issue that has been on the radar of the general health care industry for several years — is gaining increasing attention in the workers compensation sector.
