A bill proposed in the State Senate would reduce a twenty-mile reimbursement limit to five miles for ambulance services to get Medicaid reimbursement for their expenses. It would add more stability to EMS providers, whose financial burdens were eased somewhat by a bill passed in the last session to increase state reimbursements overall. A similar bill in the State House would remove the mileage limitation entirely.
The average cost for an ambulance just to pull out of its station is $550, but the average reimbursement is only $350, according to the Ambulance Association of Pennsylvania. Previous legislative attempts to deal with the mileage requirement failed to become law.
EMS providers are in a constant state of financial uncertainty. Indiana County-based Citizens Ambulance Service is in the midst of a second straight month of challenge grants. After raising $100,000 for a matching grant in April, the service was issued a $75,000 matching grant challenge for May.
Center Township Supervisors were the first donors to the $75,000 May Money Match with $15,000 approved at their recent monthly meeting. Individuals, municipalities, boroughs and businesses can have donations matched during the month of May, and memberships count toward the match.
