The General Accountability Office (GAO) has released a long-awaited report on the costs of providing ambulance services.  The report, entitled Ambulance Providers: Costs and Expected Medicare Margins Vary Greatly, is widely viewed as the first step toward achieving equitable reimbursement levels from federal payors, including Medicare.

Among other findings, the GAO concluded that it is difficult to accurately determine whether the Medicare fee schedule adequately compensates ambulance services for  their costs, due to significant variability in cost structures throughout the EMS provider community.  The report does particularly note that reimbursement rates may be negatively affecting access to ambulance services in "super rural" areas of the country.  Notably, the report also found that a majority of ambulance services in the United States may have "negative Medicare margins," meaning that the fee schedule rates do not adequately compensate them for their costs of doing business.

To download a copy of the complete report, CLICK HERE.