Recently, the American Ambulance Association (AAA) reached out to local fire and emergency service leaders asking them to sign on to a newly proposed national EMS cost reporting system. The leaders of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), and the Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association (Metro Chiefs) ask that fire service leaders not sign on to this effort.
This year, Congress passed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-123). This legislation contained a provision which restored the Medicare Ambulance Add-On Payments (Add-On Payments). It also required the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop a data collection system to gather information on the costs of providing emergency medical services (EMS) throughout the nation.