IL SB3718

Ambulance service reimbursement rates must follow Medicare payment principles and guidelines to the extent practicable and subject to available appropriated funds.

Reimbursement must be based on actual distance traveled when natural disasters, weather, road repairs, or traffic congestion require use of a non-direct route, effective January 1, 1996.

Non-emergency medi-car and service car providers must certify that drivers and attendants completed a Department-approved safety program before transporting patients, with recertification required every 3 years; public transit providers receiving federal funding under 49 U.S.C. 5307 and 5311 are exempt.

Department must establish an appeal process within 12 months allowing ground ambulance service providers 60 days to appeal decisions denying approval or approving services at lower compensation levels than requested.

Beginning 90 days after enactment, denials or reduced-level approvals for non-emergency ground ambulance transportation cannot be issued unless the Department has published criteria for determining transport appropriateness in the Illinois Register.