On April 1, President Obama signed H.R. 4302, the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014, into law. The bill extended through April 1, 2015, the reimbursement rates through Medicare for a number of services, including ambulance transport.
In February, the NVFC, along with several other national fire and emergency services organizations, called on Congress to extend the existing payment rates, which were set to expire on April 1. Had the payment rates expired, reimbursement rates through Medicare for ambulance transport would have been reduced by two percent in urban areas, three percent in rural areas, and more than 20 percent in super-rural areas.