Legislation allowing for emergency medical services providers to recover additional costs of transporting Medicaid patients in Alaska has been approved by the Legislature and will be sent to Gov. Bill Walker for his signature.
House Bill 176, sponsored by Rep. Adam Wool, D-Fairbanks, charges state law to help EMS providers recover supplemental reimbursements from the Medicaid program, which currently serves over 200,000 Alaskans.
“Allowing Alaska’s EMS providers to recover more of their costs will help the bottom line of these vital life-saving organizations,” Wool said. “This bill would have brought in $11 million a year based on last year’s numbers, However, that number is expected to go up because EMS providers are seeking a large increase in the number of ambulance calls because of the ongoing opioid crisis in Alaska.”
EMS providers in Alaska currently are only reimbursed for about 30 percent of their costs for transporting Medicaid-eligible patients. In fiscal 2017, the average claim submitted was $1,100. The average reimbursement from Medicaid was only $300 for each ground-based EMS transport, leaving an average of about $800 unreimbursed to EMS services.
The Senate on April 30 approved HB 176 unanimously. The House approved the legislation in March, also in a unanimous vote.
