House passes bill to protect ambulance payments

In an informal session yesterday, the House passed a bill that would prohibit insurers from paying patients directly for emergency medical services.

The bill would also protect the authority of cities and towns to set rates for emergency medical calls.

Some health insurers are establishing a practice of making payments directly to patients for ambulance services, leaving the provider of the service with the responsibility of collecting from the patient. The House bill would prohibit this “pay-the-patient” practice, meaning that emergency medical costs would continue to be paid by the insurer directly to the provider, which in many cases is the municipality.

“Local ambulance service providers require continued access to a stable and adequate revenue stream in order to maintain the current high level of services provided to Massachusetts residents,” the MMA wrote to legislators last fall.

The legislation started in the Joint Committee on Financial Services and was sent to the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing and the House Committee on Steering, Policy, and Scheduling before being sent to the full House for a vote.

The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.