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

1.6 	Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2015 Supplement, section 256B.0625, subdivision 17a, 
1.7 	is amended to read:
1.8 		Subd. 17a.Payment for ambulance services. (a) Medical assistance covers 
1.9 	ambulance services. Providers shall bill ambulance services according to Medicare 
1.10 	criteria. Nonemergency ambulance services shall not be paid as emergencies. Effective 
1.11 	for services rendered on or after July 1, 2001, medical assistance payments for ambulance 
1.12 	services shall be paid at the Medicare reimbursement rate or at the medical assistance 
1.13 	payment rate in effect on July 1, 2000, whichever is greater.
1.14 	(b) Effective for services provided on or after July 1, 2016, medical assistance 
1.15 	payment rates for ambulance services identified in this paragraph are increased by five 
1.16 	percent over the medical assistance payment rate in effect June 30, 2016. Payments 
1.17 	made to managed care plans and county-based purchasing plans for ambulance services 
1.18 	provided on or after January 1, 2017, shall be increased by five percent to reflect this rate 
1.19 	increase, and shall require the plans to pass on the full amount of the increase in the form 
1.20 	of higher reimbursement rates for ambulance services. The increased rate described in 
1.21 	this paragraph applies to:
1.22 	(1) an ambulance service provider whose primary service area as established under 
1.23 	section 144E.06 is mostly located outside the metropolitan counties listed in section 
2.1 	473.121, subdivision 4, and outside the cities of Duluth, Mankato, Moorhead, St. Cloud, 
2.2 	and Rochester; and
2.3 	(2) an ambulance service provider based in a community with a population of less 
2.4 	than 1,000.