EMT Report from Florida Insurance Consumer Advocate Highlights FAIR Health Data

July 18, 2018

On June 15, the Florida Office of the Insurance Consumer Advocate released its report on emergency medical transportation (EMT) in the state. Since October 2016, FAIR Health has assisted Florida officials with their preparation of this report by providing data and analyses of ground and air medical transport utilization and cost in various regions of the state, as well as comparisons with these services in other areas of the country. FAIR Health also met on several occasions with the multi-stakeholder EMT Working Group formed for the project. The report acknowledges FAIR Health’s substantial contribution to the group’s work and includes an article written by FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd, “FAIR Health and the Issue of Ambulance Costs.”

In the article, Ms. Gelburd describes how Florida and other states have used geographically specific data from FAIR Health to support the development of policies on important health insurance-related issues, including ambulance costs. She outlines the specific considerations attendant to ambulance costs, including balance billing and how to reimburse ambulance services if consumers are held harmless for amounts exceeding their in-network costs. The article goes on to describe federal and state legislative proposals to address air ambulance costs, as well as state legislative proposals on ambulance services in general and on ground ambulances in particular.