SENATE BILL 210
By Jackson
HOUSE BILL 195
By Martin B
HB0195
001618
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AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 71,
relative to ambulance services.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 71-5-165, is amended by deleting the
section and substituting:
(a) As used in this section:
(1) "Ambulance service provider" means a public or private ground-based
rural or urban ambulance service that bills for transports and has a base of
operations in this state;
(2) "Rural ambulance service" means an ambulance service in which the
point of pick up occurs in a rural area;
(3) "Rural area" has the same meaning as defined in 42 CFR 414.605
and means an area located outside an urban area, or a rural census tract within
a metropolitan statistical area as determined under the most recent version of the
Goldsmith modification as determined by the office of rural health policy of the
health resources and services administration within the United States department
of health and human services;
(4) "Urban ambulance service" means an ambulance service in which the
point of pick up occurs in an urban area; and
(5) "Urban area" has the same meaning as defined in 42 CFR 414.605
and means a metropolitan statistical area, as defined by the federal executive
office of management and budget.
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(b) The bureau of TennCare shall:
(1) Reimburse an ambulance service provider for providing a covered
urban ambulance service to a TennCare recipient at a rate not less than sixty-
seven and one-half percent (67.5%) of the federal medicare program's allowable
charge for participating providers; and
(2) Reimburse an ambulance service provider for providing a covered
rural ambulance service to a TennCare recipient at a rate not less than one
hundred percent (100%) of the federal medicare program's allowable charge for
participating providers.
(c) This section does not affect the Ground Ambulance Service Provider
Assessment Act, compiled under part 15 of this chapter. Funds described under this
section and part 15 of this chapter must not be used to fund the other.
(d) The bureau of TennCare shall seek an intergovernmental transfer of funds in
consultation with and subject to approval of the commissioner of finance and
administration for the sole purpose of increasing the rate of reimbursement to
ambulance service providers that provide covered services to TennCare recipients at a
rate greater than the rates described under subsection (b).
(e) The bureau of TennCare, in consultation with and subject to approval of the
commissioner of finance and administration, shall develop and implement a program
substantially similar to the federal centers for medicare and medicaid services'
Emergency Triage, Treat, and Transport (ET3) model, established pursuant to Section
1115A of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. ยง 1315a), in a manner that complies
with this section.
(f) For-profit ambulance service providers providing rural ambulance services
are eligible to receive emergency medical services equipment grants.
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SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.