In 2012, the AAA engaged The Moran Company, a DC-based health care analytics firm, to determine the most appropriate way for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to collect cost data from ambulance service suppliers and providers. Due to the high percentage of small ambulance service suppliers and the different types of ambulance service providers and suppliers, The Moran Company determined sending a tailored cost survey to a representative sampling of the industry was the best way for CMS to obtain the cost data. The Moran Company issued its findings in a report in April 2014.

In February 2018, Congress passed language directing CMS to collect ambulance cost data along with the 5-year extension of the Medicare ambulance add-ons as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (H.R. 1892). The language is based on a modified version of a provision included in the Medicare Ambulance Access, Fraud Prevention, and Reform Act of 2017 (S. 967). The language in H.R. 1892 sets the foundation for data collection based on a system similar to the one proposed by The Moran Company.

For more information about the findings of The Moran Company report, please access the below documents.

Summary of 2014 Report by The Moran Company 2014 Final Report by The Moran Company

If you have questions about The Moran Company report or the development of an ambulance cost data collection system by CMS, please contact AAA Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Tristan North at tnorth@ambulance.org.