Program aims to ensure access, improve quality  

The Mississippi Division of Medicaid (DOM) is aiming to support Mississippi’s emergency ambulance providers through a new program generating a significant boost in direct payments to those enrolled as Mississippi Medicaid providers.

The Transforming Reimbursement for Emergency Ambulance Transportation program – or TREAT – will increase Medicaid payments to emergency ambulance providers in an effort to maintain and improve access to and the quality of emergency ambulance services in the state.

If approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the plan will be retroactively effective July 1, 2022.

Since receiving authorization from the Mississippi Legislature earlier this year, DOM has worked closely with emergency ambulance providers to develop the program. The Mississippi State Department of Health also provided significant support.

The supplemental payments will help align Medicaid reimbursement for ambulance services with the amount providers receive from commercial insurers for the same services. The supplemental payments – which will be distributed quarterly on a state fiscal year basis – will also help promote quality of care with a percentage of the supplemental payments linked to the specific quality measurements.

“The addition of these supplemental payments to emergency ambulance providers will help further this vital component of the health care system and preserve access to needed services for Medicaid beneficiaries,” said Drew Snyder, DOM’s executive director. “We are currently working with stakeholders from the ambulance transportation provider community to finalize the details of the program and develop quality metrics that will be critical to assessing the impact of these payments.”

To learn more about TREAT, visit: https://medicaid.ms.gov/transforming-reimbursement-for-emergency-ambulance-transportation-treat/

Published Nov. 3, 2022