Ground Ambulance Services: Waiver for Treatment in Place - JE Part B

Update: Effective May 11, 2023, COVID-19 flexibilities and waivers are terminated. Providers are to resume pre-COVID policies effective May 12, 2023.

Effective March 1, 2020, where the following criteria are satisfied, Medicare pays for ground ambulance services without a transport during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE):

• The ground ambulance service was furnished in response to a 911 call (or the equivalent in areas without a 911 call system); and
• The patient would have been transported to a destination permitted under Medicare regulations, but the transport did not occur as a result of community-wide emergency medical service protocols due to the COVID-19 PHE; and
• The patient’s condition required the level of service provided and would normally require transport by ambulance, absent the community-wide EMS protocols (in other words, any other means of transportation would have been contraindicated).

Resources

• Waiver for Medicare Ground Ambulance Services Treatment in Place (PDF) fact sheet
• COVID-19 Emergency Declaration Blanket Waivers & Flexibilities for Health Care Providers (PDF)
• Frequently Asked Questions to Assist Medicare Providers (PDF)