The members of the NCAEMSA Reimbursement Committee recently met with Division of Medical Assistance to begin the process of writing a new ambulance policy for NC Medicaid.  The meeting was attended by Jeff White and Amy Harris, Johnston Ambulance Service; Chad Blakley and Rhonda Bailey, FirstHealth; Chris Martin, First Med; Maggie O?Donnell and Pattie Moore-Boyette, UNC and Kim Stanley, EMSMC.  

We felt great about the progress that was made during the initial meeting.  Although, we realize that this process will be lengthy, we feel that we will be making great strides to developing a Medicaid Policy that more consistently resembles the Medicare Policy. 

DMA stated that this forum is not an opportunity to discuss rate/allowable changes; however, in developing new policies, there will be a financial impact.  We discussed a long list of issues that the group would like to see clarified in the new Ambulance Policy.  The largest of these issues were:

·         Payment for In-County Mileage

·         Recognition of Specialty Care Transport

·         Payment for two separate transports for round trip transports (rather than reduced reimbursement using the round-trip procedure code)

Remember that no new polices have been developed and this email is only a status update of ongoing issues that we are discussing with Medicaid.  The policy representatives from DMA will be creating a draft policy in the upcoming months.  Once the policy is finalized, it will be presented to the public for comment for a period of 45 days.  It will then be presented to the medical advisory board for approval.  

We will keep everyone updated in our progress as well as requesting input from our NC Providers.  Feel free to send us your feedback if you have issues that are of concern to you and your organization.