Hospitals, nursing homes, and dialysis facilities are ordering nonemergency ambulance transports that do not meet Medicare requirements, according to a new report by the Office of Inspector General. In 2002, 25% of ambulance transports--most of which originated at third-party providers--were not warranted, costing Medicare $402 million in improper payments. The OIG report recommends that CMS first educate providers about Medicare’s ambulance transport benefit, and then investigate whether punitive action can be taken against providers who ignore transport requirements.
