Medicare covers ambulance services when they are medically necessary. To qualify for coverage, the ambulance and its crew must meet certain standards and be the only safe means of transporting a patient to an appropriate facility – like a hospital, skilled nursing facility (SNF), or dialysis center – where the patient receives Medicare-covered services.
Report potential ambulance fraud, errors, or abuse if:
- An ambulance was not medically necessary, and a wheelchair van or other automobile could have transported you safely
- You were transported in an unapproved ambulance, like a taxi
- You see on your Medicare Summary Notice (MSN) or Explanation of Benefits (EOB) charges for:
- More mileage than the actual distance traveled in the ambulance trip
- Advanced life support (ALS) instead of basic life support (BLS) or if it shows an emergency transport when it was not an emergency
- Your ambulance was not staffed by two emergency medical technicians (EMTs)
- You were transported from your house to a non-covered destination like your doctor’s office, a community mental health center, a psychiatric facility (outside of a hospital), or an independent lab not connected with a hospital or SNF