As expected, the state House yesterday passed a bill to help struggling ambulance services be reimbursed for their expenses, and the vote was unanimous.
The bill sponsored by Steven Barrar of Chester and Delaware counties requires insurance companies to reimburse ambulance companies for providing medical treatment, even when a patient is not transported to a hospital. The Basic Life Support or advanced Life Support unit must be dispatched to the scene by a county 911 center and must have rendered care even though the transport was declined.
House Majority Leader Dave Reed cited Ambulance Service, which he says “has operated in the red for four straight years and has had to reduce hours and make staffing changes” because they don’t get paid for their services unless the patient ends up being transported. He says many of the calls are for overdoses which are reversed at the scene by Narcan, or to assist a senior citizen who doesn’t need hospital care.
The bill now moves to the Senate. A second bill to increase Medicaid reimbursements for ambulance services for the first time since 2004 passed through committee yesterday and will be considered next by the full House.
