Protecting Air Ambulance Services for Americans Act of 2023

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1803 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to revise payment for air ambulance services under the Medicare program. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 1, 2023 Mr. BENNET (for himself and Mrs. BLACKBURN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to revise payment for air ambulance services under the Medicare program. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Air Ambu- 4 lance Services for Americans Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS TO MEDICARE PAYMENT SYSTEM 6 FOR AIR AMBULANCE SERVICES. 7 Section 1834(l) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 8 1395m(l)) is amended by adding at the end the following 9 new paragraph: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1803.IS S1803 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1803 IS ‘‘(18) IMPROVEMENTS TO MEDICARE PAYMENT 1 SYSTEM FOR AIR AMBULANCE SERVICES.— 2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may re- 3 vise the fee schedule otherwise established 4 under this subsection for air ambulance services 5 based on data described in subparagraph (B) 6 and data collected under subparagraph (C). 7 ‘‘(B) DATA DESCRIBED.—For purposes of 8 subparagraph (A), the data described in this 9 subparagraph is data collected pursuant to the 10 provisions of, and amendments made by, section 11 106 of division BB of the Consolidated Appro- 12 priations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116–260). 13 ‘‘(C) ADDITIONAL DATA COLLECTION.— 14 The Secretary shall require, once every 3 years, 15 providers of services and suppliers furnishing 16 air ambulance services to submit to the Sec- 17 retary— 18 ‘‘(i) data relating to the fixed and op- 19 erated costs per air ambulance base attrib- 20 utable to furnishing air ambulance services 21 to individuals enrolled under this part and 22 data relating to the utilization of such 23 services by such individuals; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1803.IS S1803 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1803 IS ‘‘(ii) data relating to the revenue ob- 1 tained by such providers and suppliers 2 under this part attributable to the fur- 3 nishing of such services; and 4 ‘‘(iii) any other information deter- 5 mined appropriate by the Secretary. 6 ‘‘(D) CONSULTATION.—In the case that 7 the Secretary elects to revise the fee schedule 8 for air ambulance services under subparagraph 9 (A), the Secretary shall consider stakeholder 10 input in a process that is transparent and ap- 11 propriately considers data described in subpara- 12 graph (B) and data collected under subpara- 13 graph (C).’’. 14 SEC. 3. GAO STUDY ON EMERGENCY AIR AMBULANCE 15 COSTS. 16 Not later than 1 year after the date on which data 17 begins to be collected pursuant to the provisions of, and 18 amendments made by, section 106 of division BB of the 19 Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116– 20 260), the Comptroller General of the United States shall 21 submit to the Committee on Finance of the Senate and 22 the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee 23 on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representa- 24 tives, a report detailing— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1803.IS S1803 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1803 IS (1) the average annual operating costs per air 1 ambulance base; 2 (2) the average cost per transport by air ambu- 3 lance; 4 (3) the payor mix for air ambulance services; 5 (4) the adequacy of Medicare payments for 6 such services; 7 (5) geographic variations in the cost of fur- 8 nishing such services; and 9 (6) recommendations on improving the fee 10 schedule under section 1834(l) of the Social Security 11 Act (42 U.S.C. 1395m(l)) for air ambulance serv- 12 ices. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1803.IS S1803 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS