MN HF5449

Emergency Medical Services Regulatory Board must establish and administer a rural EMS uncompensated care pool payment program for eligible licensees providing ambulance services outside metropolitan counties.

Eligible licensees must apply by March 31, 2025, reporting EMS responses that meet specific criteria: initiated through public safety answering point, ambulance responded but did not transport patient to hospital emergency department, and licensee received no payment from any source between January 1-December 31, 2024.

Board awards points based on volume of eligible responses: 10 points per response for first 25 responses, 5 points for responses 26-50, 3 points for responses 51-100, 1 point for responses 101-200, and zero points for responses exceeding 200.

Payment amounts calculated by dividing total appropriated funds by total points awarded to determine per-point value, with each licensee's payment equal to their points multiplied by the per-point amount.

Executive director must certify and distribute full payments to eligible licensees by May 30, 2025, using $3,000,000 one-time appropriation from general fund in fiscal year 2025.