Due to the Public Health Emergency declared for the COVID-19 pandemic, CMS issued a blanket waiver in May 2020 to delay the data collection and reporting for those ground ambulance organizations selected to report in year 1 by one year. They were concerned that the unpredictability of the winter influenza season when combined with the COVID-19 pandemic would further strain the capacity of ground ambulance organizations in 2021.

As a result, CMS hissued a revised blanket waiver yesterday to delay the Medicare Ground Ambulance Data Collection System. Please see page 31 of this document.

CMS is delaying the data collection and reporting period for ground ambulance organizations selected to participate in year 1 for two years and for one year for ground ambulance organizations selected to participate in year 2. With this modification, the data collection period for year 1 and year 2 selected ground ambulance organizations will begin between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022.

AAA will send out a more detailed member advisory to assess the impact of the delay on the other requirements imposed in the legislation that mandated cost data collection for ambulance services.