Hear from American Ambulance Association CEO Maria Bianchi and state association leaders why it is essential for EMS agencies to take advantage of the Savvik Buying Group discounts available as part of their AAA memberships.
EMS Week will take place from May 16–22, 2021. To celebrate the extraordinary contributions of ambulance services to the communities they serve, we will be featuring specific services throughout EMS week on AAA’s website and social media.
If you would like to apply to have your service featured, please complete and submit all fields below by May 14. Thank you for your service to your community!
EMS Week will take place from May 16–22, 2021. To celebrate the extraordinary contributions of ambulance services to the communities they serve, we will be featuring specific services throughout EMS week on AAA’s website and social media.
If you would like to apply to have your service featured, please complete and submit all fields below by May 12. Thank you for your service to your community!
Dear AAA Members:
As you may know, there is a class action lawsuit pending in the U.S. alleging Visa, MasterCard and their member banks engaged in anticompetitive practices. The case, Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement, alleges activity that includes collusion which artificially inflated the interchange fee that all AAA members paid to accept Visa and MasterCard branded credit cards. The proposed settlement provides that any merchant that accepted Visa and MasterCard credit cards at any time between January 1, 2004 and January 25, 2019 will be entitled to participate in the $5.54 billion-dollar settlement.
Class Action Refund has over 17 years of experience in managing complex claims and is an innovator of a niche service that specializes in the recovery of antitrust settlements for businesses, which includes large organizations like the AAA. Class Action Refund can ease the burden of self-filing. The life cycle of a claim can take several years to settle and may require various types of documentation and correspondence with the claims administrator in order to substantiate the claim. Class Action Refund will manage the entire filing process and inform you of milestones as necessary, so that you may stay focused on your core business. Additionally, there are NO OUT-OF-POCKET COSTS TO AAA MEMBERS. Class Action Refund will reduce its normal 33% contingency fee of funds recovered to 25% for AAA members. If no recovery is made, then no fee is charged.
Any member interested in availing themselves of Class Action Refund’s recovery management services, for the Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement can quickly and easily sign up below!
Questions? Contact:
Joe Grande
Senior Account Manager
914.630.5112
jgrande@classactionrefund.com
Disclaimer: No claim forms are available at this time, and no claim-filing deadline exists. No-cost assistance will be available from the Class Administrator and Class Counsel during any claims-filing period. No one is required to sign up with any third-party service in order to participate in any settlement. For additional information regarding the status of the litigation, interested persons may visit www.paymentcardsettlement.com, the Court-approved website for this case.
Dear AAA Members:
As you may know, there is a class action lawsuit pending in the U.S. alleging Visa, MasterCard and their member banks engaged in anticompetitive practices. The case, Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement, alleges activity that includes collusion which artificially inflated the interchange fee that all AAA members paid to accept Visa and MasterCard branded credit cards. The proposed settlement provides that any merchant that accepted Visa and MasterCard credit cards at any time between January 1, 2004 and January 25, 2019 will be entitled to participate in the $5.54 billion-dollar settlement.
Class Action Refund has over 17 years of experience in managing complex claims and is an innovator of a niche service that specializes in the recovery of antitrust settlements for businesses, which includes large organizations like the AAA. Class Action Refund can ease the burden of self-filing. The life cycle of a claim can take several years to settle and may require various types of documentation and correspondence with the claims administrator in order to substantiate the claim. Class Action Refund will manage the entire filing process and inform you of milestones as necessary, so that you may stay focused on your core business. Additionally, there are NO OUT-OF-POCKET COSTS TO AAA MEMBERS. Class Action Refund will reduce its normal 33% contingency fee of funds recovered to 25% for AAA members. If no recovery is made, then no fee is charged.
Any member interested in availing themselves of Class Action Refund’s recovery management services, for the Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement can quickly and easily sign up below!
Mr. Hugh Bellingreri, Senior Account Manager, is the contact person for members. Please call Hugh directly at 914-630-5116, or you can reach him by email at hbellingreri@classactionrefund.com with any questions.
Disclaimer: No claim forms are available at this time, and no claim-filing deadline exists. No-cost assistance will be available from the Class Administrator and Class Counsel during any claims-filing period. No one is required to sign up with any third-party service in order to participate in any settlement. For additional information regarding the status of the litigation, interested persons may visit www.paymentcardsettlement.com, the Court-approved website for this case.
Dear AAA Members:
As you may know, there is a class action lawsuit pending in the U.S. alleging Visa, MasterCard and their member banks engaged in anticompetitive practices. The case, Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement, alleges activity that includes collusion which artificially inflated the interchange fee that all AAA members paid to accept Visa and MasterCard branded credit cards. The proposed settlement provides that any merchant that accepted Visa and MasterCard credit cards at any time between January 1, 2004 and January 25, 2019 will be entitled to participate in the $5.54 billion-dollar settlement.
Class Action Refund has over 17 years of experience in managing complex claims and is an innovator of a niche service that specializes in the recovery of antitrust settlements for businesses, which includes large organizations like the AAA. Class Action Refund can ease the burden of self-filing. The life cycle of a claim can take several years to settle and may require various types of documentation and correspondence with the claims administrator in order to substantiate the claim. Class Action Refund will manage the entire filing process and inform you of milestones as necessary, so that you may stay focused on your core business. Additionally, there are NO OUT-OF-POCKET COSTS TO AAA MEMBERS. Class Action Refund will reduce its normal 33% contingency fee of funds recovered to 25% for AAA members. If no recovery is made, then no fee is charged.
Any member interested in availing themselves of Class Action Refund’s recovery management services, for the Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement can quickly and easily sign up below!
Mr. Hugh Bellingreri, Senior Account Manager, is the contact person for members. Please call Hugh directly at 914-630-5116, or you can reach him by email at hbellingreri@classactionrefund.com with any questions.
Disclaimer: No claim forms are available at this time, and no claim-filing deadline exists. No-cost assistance will be available from the Class Administrator and Class Counsel during any claims-filing period. No one is required to sign up with any third-party service in order to participate in any settlement. For additional information regarding the status of the litigation, interested persons may visit www.paymentcardsettlement.com, the Court-approved website for this case.
AAA understands that EMS staff often experience significant challenges securing quality, reliable childcare, and that these challenges have been exacerbated by school and daycare closures caused by COVID-19. We are here to help!
The American Ambulance Association is proud to share that we have partnered with Kindercare to offer EMS providers priority childcare placement as well as a 10% discount on tuition. Please share this information with your staff! Visit www.kindercare.com/aaa for full details.
AAA member employee families receive priority placement at all 1600 Kindercare centers.
AAA member employees save 10% on full-time, part-time, and drop-in tuition for children ages six weeks to 12 years at any KinderCare Learning Center or Champions before- and after-school sites nationwide.
This offer is available to new families as well as those already enrolled in a participating center.
New releases include the 2021 Medicare Reference Manual, 2021 HIPAA Manual, and 2021 Human Resources Toolkit!
Please note that you must be logged in using your member account in order to see the $0.00 member e-book pricing. The link to download your e-book will be delivered in your email order confirmation.
Not yet a member? Join today to gain access!
Please either or Join!
AAA members have free access to Savvik Buying Group savings!
Safety for your employees today is paramount. Finding the safety products you need, is what we do. With some trying to limit the number of gloves that you can purchase, Savvik has been able to find nitrile gloves for immediate shipment with no limits.
Happy New Year, EMS! No matter how big the challenge, mobile healthcare NEVER gives up on our communities. Paramedics, EMTs, and Dispatchers have been a ray of hope in the #COVID19 pandemic. Thanks for showing us all what CARING really means.
Happy New Year, #EMS! No matter how big the challenge, #mobilehealthcare NEVER gives up on our communities. #Paramedics,…
Posted by American Ambulance Association on Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Happy New Year, #EMS! No matter how big the challenge, #mobilehealthcare NEVER gives up on our communities. #Paramedics, #EMTs, & #Dispatchers have been a ray of hope in the #COVID19 pandemic. Thanks for showing us what CARING really means. #SupportEMS #alwaysopen #NotJustaRide pic.twitter.com/O3ggdPvU3p
— AmericanAmbulanceAsc (@amerambassoc) December 30, 2020
Last night, the U.S. House of Representatives followed soon after by the United States Senate passed an approximately $900 billion legislative package to provide additional economic relief to businesses and individuals struggling from the COVID-19 pandemic. The package also contained numerous unrelated policy changes with several provisions on interest to ground ambulance service organizations. The AAA is currently analyzing the legislative text of the massive 3,000 plus page package and will provide members with the final analysis. In the meantime, below are some highlights.
Sequestration Delay
Sequestration, which reduces Medicare reimbursement by 2% for Medicare providers and suppliers, is suspended through March 31, 2021.
Provider Relief Fund
An additional $3 billion is added to the Provider Relief Fund administered by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Balance Billing
Health care providers will no longer be able to balance bill patients with private insurance. Rates will be determined through an arbitration process. The restrictions do not apply to ground ambulance services. The AAA along with the International Association of Fire Chiefs, International Association of Firefighters and National Association of EMTs successfully educated lawmakers about the oversight role of local governments in 911 EMS systems. The legislation instead establishes an Advisory Committee on Ground Ambulance Billing which will issue a report to Congress on its findings. The AAA will be pushing for representatives of the AAA to be on the Committee.
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)
Another round of $284 billion in PPP funding is made available to small businesses hit especially hard by the pandemic. Businesses must employ 300 or fewer employees and report losses of 25% or more in order to qualify. For ground ambulance service organizations which receive PPP funds under the past round or the current one, expenses covered by forgiven funds will now be deductible.
Today’s AAA webinar, “Wrapping Up a Year for the Record Books”, will include an overview of the stimulus package. This webinar is free for AAA members. Register Here!
Please note that you must be logged in using your member account in order to see the $0.00 member e-book pricing. The link to download your e-book will be delivered in your email order confirmation.
Not yet a member? Join today to gain access!
Please either or Join!
Please either or Join!
The American Ambulance Association is creating a “yearbook” for 2020 to highlight EMS’s incredible response to the pandemic, wildfires, hurricanes, civil unrest, opioids, and more. We would also love to feature our vendor members and state ambulance associations as we know you are critical to the success of mobile healthcare.
To participate, please complete the short form below!
Please submit your responses by October 31, 2020. One hardcopy book will be mailed to the primary address of each member organization in early February 2021. Organizations that do not submit data will be listed as members, but not featured. All fields are required. Please proofread carefully!
AMBULANCE SERVICE MEMBERS, please complete this form instead!
Help AAA tell the story of EMS in 2020… in YOUR words and about YOUR community!
2020 has challenged every EMS provider in the country in myriad ways—pandemic, wildfires, hurricanes, civil unrest, opioids, and more. Please take a moment to share with the American Ambulance Association details and photos about YOUR service for inclusion in a virtual and hardcopy yearbook that will be produced in January 2021. The yearbook will highlight the extraordinary contributions of mobile healthcare providers across the country.
Member organizations, please submit your responses by October 31, 2020. One hardcopy book will be mailed to the primary address of each member organization in early February 2021. Organizations that do not submit data will be listed as members, but not featured. All fields are required. Please proofread carefully!
Dear AAA Members:
As you may know, there is a class action lawsuit pending in the U.S. alleging Visa, MasterCard and their member banks engaged in anticompetitive practices. The case, Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement, alleges activity that includes collusion which artificially inflated the interchange fee that all AAA members paid to accept Visa and MasterCard branded credit cards. The proposed settlement provides that any merchant that accepted Visa and MasterCard credit cards at any time between January 1, 2004 and January 25, 2019 will be entitled to participate in the $5.54 billion-dollar settlement.
Class Action Refund has over 17 years of experience in managing complex claims and is an innovator of a niche service that specializes in the recovery of antitrust settlements for businesses, which includes large organizations like the AAA. Class Action Refund can ease the burden of self-filing. The life cycle of a claim can take several years to settle and may require various types of documentation and correspondence with the claims administrator in order to substantiate the claim. Class Action Refund will manage the entire filing process and inform you of milestones as necessary, so that you may stay focused on your core business. Additionally, there are NO OUT-OF-POCKET COSTS TO AAA MEMBERS. Class Action Refund will reduce its normal 33% contingency fee of funds recovered to 25% for AAA members. If no recovery is made, then no fee is charged.
Any member interested in availing themselves of Class Action Refund’s recovery management services, for the Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement can quickly and easily sign up below!
Mr. Hugh Bellingreri, Senior Account Manager, is the contact person for members. Please call Hugh directly at 914-630-5116, or you can reach him by email at hbellingreri@classactionrefund.com with any questions.
Disclaimer: No claim forms are available at this time, and no claim-filing deadline exists. No-cost assistance will be available from the Class Administrator and Class Counsel during any claims-filing period. No one is required to sign up with any third-party service in order to participate in any settlement. For additional information regarding the status of the litigation, interested persons may visit www.paymentcardsettlement.com, the Court-approved website for this case.
On July 1, The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill to extend the deadline to apply for forgivable small business loans through the Paycheck Protection Program. The legislation was previously passed by the Senate and President Trump is expected to sign the bill into law.
The bill extends the deadline to request Paycheck Protection Program loans to August 8 from June 30. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), which oversees the program with the Treasury Department, stopped accepting loan applications at midnight Tuesday. The extension is intended to provide more time for small businesses to apply for the approximately $129 billion in PPP funding remaining.
The program provides forgivable loans that small businesses and other qualifying entities can use to cover payroll and other select costs.
The AAA will continue to press the Congress and federal agencies for help to ensure ambulance service organizations and our paramedics and EMTs serving on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic have the necessary resources and financial assistance to serve their communities.
With the U.S. Senate on track to consider a fourth economic stimulus package before their August recess, the AAA is working hard to promote legislative language that positively impact the EMS industry and ambulance services across the country. Here is a snapshot of those current efforts.
Ambulance Funding in Response to COVID-19
As the Senate develops its next economic stimulus legislation to address the impact of COVID-19, the AAA has met with leaders and staff on Capitol Hill to increase the percentage of the general allocation of funds under the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund (PHSSEF) for ground ambulance services providers and suppliers to equal a total of $2.89 billion in funds for our industry. The $2.89 billion reflects $48,000 per ambulance with an estimated 60,000 registered vehicles. We greatly appreciate the recent payments under the Fund which will help with our current situation. However, the ground ambulance services industry is only 0.90% of Medicare fee-for-service annual outlays which resulted in $270 million for our industry in round one of PHSSEF payments. This figure is disproportional to the large role of ground ambulance service providers and suppliers in responding to COVID-19 and our increased costs and reduced revenues during the public health emergency (PHE).
The AAA has highlighted the increased costs, uncompensated care and lost revenue related to COVID-19 and hope to see ambulance-specific funding in the Senate’s 4th stimulus package.
Expand Public Safety Officer Benefits (PSOB)
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the AAA has advocated to add COVID-19 as an infectious disease under the Public Safety Officers’ Benefit (PSOB) and extend coverage during the pandemic to paramedics and EMTs employed by a private ambulance service who die from COVID-19.
On April 9, the AAA and the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General William Barr requesting the Department of Justice extend coverage under the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) program to all paramedics and EMTs during the COVID-19 national health emergency.
On May 22, the AAA received a written response from the DOJ denying any expansion of the PSOB program stating that paramedics and emergency medical technicians employed by private for-profit EMS agencies do not meet the definition of “public safety officers” for purposes of PSOB eligibility.
To push for a legislative fix, AAA Staff and consultants have continued to advocate that all paramedics and EMTs be covered by the program regardless of their employer.
Expansion of Treatment in Place
The AAA has sent several letters asking the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to reimburse ground ambulance service providers and suppliers for performing protocol-driven treatments in place during the PHE.
This coverage will help limit the spread of COVID-19 by keeping patients with mild cases of COVID-19 at home and out of overcrowded hospitals or other facilities where they could expose others to the virus. With mostly positive response on our proposed regulatory fixes, the AAA will continue to follow up and address any roadblocks to full coverage of Treatment in Place.
Allow Private For-Profit EMS Providers to Apply Directly for FEMA Grants
The AAA has long advocated to allow private for-profit EMS agencies to apply directly to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for Public Assistance program grants during the PHE and waive the matching requirement for emergency response providers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more necessary than ever that EMS agencies receive the funding the deserve for their role in the COVID-19 response. This will allow all EMS agencies to apply for financial assistance and for state and local governments to focus their limited resources on directly combating the pandemic.
We have been met with positive response from key Senators serving on Committees and Subcommittees of jurisdiction.
Other Legislation
The AAA was pleased to see the introduction of the Pandemic Responder Service Award Act (S. 3763) by Sen. Casey (D-PA) which provides front-line healthcare workers with awards up to $10,000 based on days of eligible service during the PHE. In the case of any qualified health care worker who was hospitalized or died as a result of contracting COVID–19, the award would be the full $10,000. This bill specifically includes private for-profit ambulance service providers, in a well-needed recognition of the work they provide on the frontlines of COVID-19. The AA will continue to work with Sen. Casey’s office as well as push for the inclusion of private for-profit providers in the House companion bill.
The AAA is also pleased to announce the introduction of H.R. 7292 by Rep. Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) which would provide forgiveness of certain accelerated and advanced payments under Medicare parts A and B. While the funding provided by the CARES Act was critical at keeping ambulance service providers operating, the Medicare Accelerated and Advanced Payment Program has the potential to cripple health care providers in the near future as Medicare payments are withheld until those advanced payments are repaid. H.R. 7292 would forgive the repayments and help ensure financial stability for ambulance service providers across the country.
The AAA will continue to press the Congress and federal agencies for help to ensure ambulance service organizations and our paramedics and EMTs serving on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic have the necessary resources and financial assistance to serve their communities.
