“Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is announcing the selection of 205 applicants to participate in the Emergency Triage, Treat, and Transport (ET3) Model, a payment model that aims to allow beneficiaries to access the most appropriate emergency services at the right time and place. The voluntary, five-year payment model will provide greater flexibility to ambulance care teams to address emergency health care needs of Medicare Fee-for-Service beneficiaries following a 911 call. Today’s applicant selections are part of CMS’s strategic initiative to advance innovative payment structures to move our health care system to one that incentivizes value by rewarding quality, performance, and innovation. Announced by CMS in early 2019, the ET3 Model creates a new set of incentives for emergency transport and care, ensuring patients get convenient, appropriate treatment by Medicare-enrolled providers and suppliers…”
“Currently, Medicare only pays for emergency ground ambulance services when beneficiaries are transported to specific types of facilities, most often a hospital emergency department (ED), creating an incentive to transport all beneficiaries to the hospital even when an alternative treatment option may be more appropriate. To counter this incentive, CMS will test two new ambulance payments, while continuing to pay for emergency transport of a Medicare beneficiary to a hospital ED or other destination covered under current Medicare requirements. Under the ET3 Model, Medicare will pay participating ambulance suppliers and providers to:
- Transport a beneficiary to an alternative destination (such as a primary care doctor’s office or an urgent care clinic), or
- Initiate and facilitate treatment in place by a qualified health care practitioner, either in-person on the scene or via telehealth.”
“Upon arriving on the scene of a 911 call, participating ambulance suppliers and providers may triage Medicare beneficiaries to one of these Model’s interventions…” Read the full press release here.
Source: CMS Selects Applicants for Participation in Innovative Payment Model with New Emergency Treatment and Transport Options – February 27, 2020. CMS.
