Sponsors (46)
The bill expands Medicare payment and telehealth authority to support on‑scene nontransport emergency care—improving access and provider compensation—but increases Medicare spending and risks uneven quality, higher utilization, and short‑term uncertainty for long‑term system changes.
Medicare beneficiaries can receive and be billed for on‑scene treatment without transport, increasing access to emergency care at home or on-site.
Hospitals, EMS providers, and telehealth clinicians will receive payments for non‑transport on‑scene care aligned with transport rates, reducing uncompensated care and encouraging alternative on‑scene treatment models.
Medicare beneficiaries and emergency responders will have expanded telehealth integration because the bill treats the patient site as an authorized originating site, enabling audiovisual medical direction during emergency responses.
Taxpayers and the Medicare program will face higher spending because expanding Part B payments for nontransport care increases Medicare expenditures.
Medicare beneficiaries, particularly in rural areas, may experience inconsistent access or variable quality of on‑scene nontransport emergency care due to differing state and local protocols.
Medicare beneficiaries and taxpayers may see increased utilization and billing if aligning payments with transport rates incentivizes overuse of billable on‑scene services without strong guardrails.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires CMS to add a five-year test paying Medicare Part B to ambulance providers for on-scene treatment without transport, aligning payments with transport rates and requiring a GAO evaluation.
Introduced April 1, 2025 by Mike Carey · Last progress April 1, 2025
Requires the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to create a five-year test that pays Medicare Part B to ground ambulance providers (or entities working with them) when an ambulance responds to an emergency call but the patient is not transported. Payments must generally align with what would have been paid if the patient had been transported, and the patient site may be treated as an originating site for certain telehealth fees. The Comptroller General must report to congressional tax and health committees within four years evaluating access, outcomes, regional differences, best practices, challenges, and recommendations.