Ambulance run rate hikes cancelled
Marion County commissioners, at their Monday meeting, rescinded action taken a couple of months ago raising ambulance rates.
The reason? Medicare is not going to pay any more under the new, higher rates that were imposed than it did before. At least not for 18 months to two years, according to Deana Olsen, office manager for the Emergency Medical Service and Ambulance Service.
Instead of being $450 and $500, ambulance run rates now revert to $225, $250, and $300.
With Medicare the major payer for ambulance service, it would do the county no good, and in fact, probably cause financial harm, to raise these rates, JoAnn Knak, director of EMS, explained to commissioners, quoting from a paper on the subject written by Olsen.
All raising the rates would do, the paper said, was increasing the written-off, uncollectable amount recorded by the county agency.
The base rate now paid by Medicare is $205.39 per run, but the county agency is allowed to bill Medicare separately for supplies used.
If the county stayed with a $400 all-inclusive rate, for supplies being billed with the base rate, it would still get only $205.39 from Medicare, so overall, would receive less than before commissioners raised the rates.
When Medicare's new system is in place, in about two years, allowables should be updated, and hopefully increased, to the county's benefit.
The new method allowable would net the county EMS $112.58 less than the current method.
If base rates were $450 and $500 per run, as was planned (and instituted), the allowable amount from Medicare would be unchanged, resulting in no more money than before, and much larger writeoffs.
