CMS is extending for another year the Medicare prior authorization program for repetitive, scheduled non-emergent ambulance transport services rendered by ambulance providers in selected states. As previously reported, CMS began testing the three-year Medicare prior authorization model in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina on December 1, 2014. The agency extended the model to the following six locations as of January 1, 2016: Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. While the model was scheduled to end in all states on December 1, 2017, CMS has now extended the program in each of the current model locations; the model will now end in all states on December 1, 2018. According to the CMS notice, prior authorization will not be available for repetitive scheduled non-emergent ambulance transportation services furnished after that date.
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