1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to human services; increasing medical assistance payment rates for 
1.3 	certain ambulance services; appropriating money to the Emergency Medical 
1.4 	Services Regulatory Board;amending Minnesota Statutes 2015 Supplement, 
1.5 	section 256B.0625, subdivision 17a.
1.6 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.7 	Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2015 Supplement, section 256B.0625, subdivision 17a, 
1.8 	is amended to read:
1.9 		Subd. 17a.Payment for ambulance services. (a) Medical assistance covers 
1.10 	ambulance services. Providers shall bill ambulance services according to Medicare 
1.11 	criteria. Nonemergency ambulance services shall not be paid as emergencies. Effective 
1.12 	for services rendered on or after July 1, 2001, medical assistance payments for ambulance 
1.13 	services shall be paid at the Medicare reimbursement rate or at the medical assistance 
1.14 	payment rate in effect on July 1, 2000, whichever is greater.
1.15 	(b) Effective for services provided on or after July 1, 2016, medical assistance 
1.16 	payment rates for ambulance services identified in this paragraph are increased by five 
1.17 	percent. Capitation payments made to managed care plans and county-based purchasing 
1.18 	plans for ambulance services provided on or after January 1, 2017, shall be adjusted to 
1.19 	reflect this rate increase. The increased rate described in this paragraph applies to:
1.20 	(1) an ambulance service provider whose base of operations, as defined in section 
1.21 	144E.10, is located outside the metropolitan counties listed in section 473.121, subdivision 
1.22 	4, and outside the cities of Duluth, Mankato, Moorhead, St. Cloud, and Rochester; or
1.23 	(2) an ambulance service provider whose base of operations, as defined in section 
1.24 	144E.10, is located within a municipality with a population of less than 1,000.

2.1 	Sec. 2. APPROPRIATION.
 2.2 	$70,000 in fiscal year 2016 and $55,000 in fiscal year 2017 are appropriated 
2.3 	from the general fund to the Emergency Medical Services Regulatory Board. Of these 
2.4 	appropriations:
2.5 	(1) $34,000 in fiscal year 2016 and $34,000 in fiscal year 2017 are for annual 
2.6 	support, maintenance, and hosting of the comprehensive electronic licensing and agency 
2.7 	operations software solution;
2.8 	(2) $21,000 in fiscal year 2016 and $21,000 in fiscal year 2017 are for annual support, 
2.9 	maintenance, and housing of the MNSTAR prehospital patient care report database; and
2.10 	(3) $15,000 in fiscal year 2016 is for the board to purchase four 800 megahertz 
2.11 	handheld radios to be used by field staff to meet board responsibilities for emergency 
2.12 	communications during a regional or statewide emergency.

2.13 	EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective the day following final enactment.