On March 10th, 2021 MACo Policy Associate Alex Butler testified before the Senate Finance Committee to support SB 865 Maryland Medical Assistance Program – Emergency Service Transporters – Reimbursement. This bill creates a reimbursement program through Medicaid for deliveries made by emergency transport.

From the MACo Testimony:

SB 865 seeks to remedy an inequity in current law, where transportation to a hospital (“facility” in this section of law) is a reimbursable event, but transportation to another location for comparable care is not. Under SB 865, if an ambulance company delivers a patient to an urgent care facility equipped to administer the appropriate care for the patient’s apparent needs, the law would recognize that transport as an appropriate, and reimbursable, event. In some parts of the State, the difference between accessing the nearest fully licensed hospital facility and the nearest appropriate caregiver may be substantial in both miles and minutes.

Follow MACo’s advocacy efforts during the 2021 legislative session on MACo’s Legislative Tracking Database.