Protecting Air Ambulance Services for Americans Act of 2025
The Protecting Air Ambulance Services for Americans Act of 2025 would revise how Medicare pays for air ambulance services. It gives the Secretary of Health and Human Services authority to adjust the air ambulance portion of the Medicare fee schedule based on specific data sources, including data from a prior 2021 law and new cost-and-utilization information collected from providers every three years. The bill also requires the Department to finalize a data collection rule within six months of enactment, and it commissions a GAO study within one year after data collection begins to assess operating costs, transport costs, payor mix, payment adequacy, and geographic differences, with recommendations to improve the fee schedule. The process includes stakeholder input to ensure transparency and data-driven changes. In short, the bill aims to make Medicare payments for air ambulance services more data-driven and responsive to actual costs and utilization, while creating new reporting obligations for providers and oversight by Congress.
Key Points
- 1The Secretary may revise the Medicare air ambulance fee schedule based on data described in the bill and data collected under the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act (Division BB, section 106).
- 2The Secretary shall require providers and suppliers furnishing air ambulance services to submit data every three years on fixed and operating costs per base, utilization, and revenue related to Medicare beneficiaries, plus any other information the Secretary deems appropriate.
- 3Data sources include data described in the 2021 Division BB provisions; the new data collection complements and informs fee schedule updates.
- 4If the Secretary revises the fee schedule, there must be a transparent, stakeholder-informed process that considers the described data and respondent input.
- 5The bill sets timelines: a final rule implementing the air ambulance data collection must be published within six months of enactment; a GAO study must be completed within one year after data collection begins, examining costs, payor mix, geographic variation, and recommending improvements to the fee schedule.