Why Red Wyoming Seeks The Regulatory Approach To Air Ambulance Costs

Photo National Highway Traffic Safety Administration   Wyoming, the reddest of Republican states and a bastion of free enterprise, thinks it may have found a way to end crippling air ambulance bills that can top $100,000 per flight. The state’s unexpected solution? Undercut the free market by using Medicaid to treat air ambulances like a public utility. The issue has come to a head in Wyoming, where rugged terrain and long distances between hospitals forces reliance on these ambulance flights. Costs for such emergency transports have been soaring, with some patients facing massive unexpected bills as the free-flying air ambulance industry expands with cash from profit-seeking private-equity investors. Other states dealing with the same dynamic have tried to rein in the industry but have continually run up against the Airline Deregulation Act, a federal law that preempts states from regulating any part of the air industry. So, Wyoming officials are instead seeking federal approval to funnel all medical air transportation in the state through Medicaid, a joint federal-state program for residents with lower incomes. The state officials plan to submit their proposal in late September to Medicaid’s parent agency, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; the plan will still face significant hurdles there. If successful, however, the Wyoming approach could be a model for the nation, protecting patients in need of a lifesaving service from being devastated by a...
Source: JEMS Operations - Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Rescue & Vehicle Extrication News Ambulances Vehicle Ops Patient Care Operations Source Type: news