CMS Launches Overhaul of How Medicare Pays for Emergency Treatment

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has launched a five-year project to retool how Medicare pays for emergency treatment following a 911 call, reports Politico Pro . The ET3 voluntary payment experiment will offer a new approach for healthcare providers to conduct emergency triage, treatment, and transportation. CMS will pay participating ambulance teams to transport beneficiaries to hospital emergency departments, as well as to places such as a primary care physician's office, or to deliver on-the-spot care under the supervision of a qualified practitioner or via telehealth. Medicare currently pays only for emergency ambulance trips to hospitals, skilled nursing communities, or dialysis centers. That means most beneficiaries are likely to be brought to a hospital following a 911 call. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the ET3 model is designed to help beneficiaries "get convenient, appropriate treatment in whatever setting makes sense for them." The project is one of the first payment models to be issued by the CMS Innovation Center under the leadership of director Adam Boehler.