The growing EMS economic crisis is a combination of expense increases for service delivery AND the reimbursement for services provided.

One of the major factors in the revenue gap for EMS as a safety-net healthcare provider is the percentage of patients who cannot pay for their EMS care due to lack of insurance, meaning the patient is responsible for reimbursing the cost of EMS care.

To help NAEMT, AIMHI, and other associations develop communication strategies regarding public policy to address rising levels of uncompensated care, we are asking EMS agencies to help quantify the level of uncompensated care in their agency.

You can participate in the FLASH POLL through the on-line link here:

Complete Online Survey

For your planning purposes, we’re including the questions on the poll below, so you know in advance what the questions are…

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) defines uncompensated care as “Health care or services provided by hospitals or health care providers that don’t get reimbursed. Often uncompensated care arises when people don’t have insurance and cannot afford to pay the cost of care.”

https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/uncompensated-care/

Using this definition, we’d like to seek your input on the following six data points related to your level of uncompensated care.

Agency Name:

Name and E-Mail Address of Respondent:

Service Type:

• 911/Emergency Only
• Primarily 911 with Some Inter-Facility
• Primarily Inter-Facility with some 911
• Inter-Facility Only

Agency Type:

• Private (including private, nonprofit)
• 3^rd Service Governmental
• Hospital-Based
• Fire-Based
• Public Utility Model
• Other

Primary Service Area State:

Annual Response Volume:

• 1 – 1,000
• 1,000 – 10,000
• 10,000 – 25,000
• 25,000 – 50,000
• 50,000 – 75,000
• 75,000 – 100,000
• Over 100,000