Amends TCA Title 5; Title 7; Title 56; Title 68 and Title 71.

ON APRIL 21, 2022, THE SENATE SUBSTITUTED HOUSE BILL 1719 FOR SENATE BILL 1872, ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1, AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 1719, AS AMENDED.<br /> <br /> AMENDMENT #1 revises present law provisions governing the Ground Ambulance Service Provider Assessment Act, as follows:<br /> <br /> (1) Generally under present law, each quarter of the state fiscal year, the assessment due from each ambulance provider equals the rate set in accordance with item (2) below, multiplied by each provider's total transports reported from the most recent available completed quarter of transport data recorded by the office of emergency medical services. Present law defines "total transports" as all transports reported during the base period by a provider to the office of emergency medical services. This amendment revises this provision to instead provide, effective from the date this bill becomes law until July 1, 2022, that for the third and fourth quarter of state fiscal year 2021-2022, the assessment due from each ambulance provider for each quarter will equal one-half the amount set in item (2) below, divided by the total taxable transports for the respective quarter and then multiplied by each provider's total taxable quarterly transports. The total taxable quarterly transport data must be based on the most recent available completed quarter of transport data recorded by the office of emergency medical services. And effective July 1, 2022, each quarter the assessment must equal one-fourth of the amount set in accordance with item (2) below, divided by the total taxable transports for the respective quarter and then multiplied by each provider's total taxable quarterly transports. This amendment defines "taxable transports" as the total ground ambulance transports reported during the base period by a provider to the office of emergency medical services that qualify as a permissible service to impose a healthcare-related provider assessment pursuant to federal regulation. <br /> <br /> (2) Under present law, the assessment must generate the lesser of: <br /> <br /> (A) $9.09 per transport that is part of a provider's total transports; or <br /> <br /> (B) In the event that $9.09 per transport causes the statewide assessment to exceed 6 percent of statewide net operating revenues, the per transport assessment will equal an amount that generates 6 percent of statewide net operating revenues. <br /> <br /> This amendment rewrites item (A) above to instead provide, effective from the date this bill becomes law until July 1, 2022, that for the third and fourth quarter of state fiscal year 2021-2022, the total amount of the assessment is $5,327,000, except as provided in item (B) above. Effective July 1, 2022, the total amount of the assessment is $10,655,000, except as provided in item (B) above. <br /> <br /> (3) Present law requires the TennCare bureau to disburse supplemental payments to ambulance providers based on medicaid transports from the base period as determined by the bureau and as authorized by the centers for medicare and medicaid services. Also under present law, moneys in the ambulance service assessment revenue fund may be used to create supplemental or directed payments for ground ambulance providers. This amendment provides for "directed" instead of "supplemental" payments to ambulance providers, removes the reference to supplemental payments from the provision concerning use of moneys in the fund, and specifies that the creation of directed payments must be as determined by the bureau and as authorized by the centers for medicare and medicaid services.<br /> <br /> (4) Under present law, cost and utilization reports must be submitted by May 31 of each calendar year, and the bureau assesses a penalty for failure to submit the report. Under this amendment, effective from the date this bill becomes law until July 1, 2022, the filing date is June 30 and the imposition of a penalty is discretionary instead of mandatory.<br />