VA Meets Zinke’s Demands, Delays Rollout of Unaffordable Ambulance Rule

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – On November 28, Congressman Ryan Zinke was informed the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) delayed the enactment of their proposed air ambulance reimbursement ruling until 2025 in response to Zinke’s continued scrutiny over the costly and potentially deadly consequences. The rule previously set to be enacted February 2024 would dramatically cut the amount the VA pays for air and specialty ambulance services for veterans by reverting to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reimbursement rates based off data from more than 20 years ago. The proposal, while not a front-page issue, has been met with opposition from local and national veteran service organizations and emergency services. Several rural communities adopted similar reimbursement rates and have lost all ambulatory service as a result.

Zinke has fought the detrimental policy since February 2023 and has worked to combat the ruling by sending bipartisan letters to VA Secretary Dennis McDonough, attending budget hearings with the Secretary and co-leading a bill which would ensure the VA completes several due-diligence requirements before pursuing a change that could reduce reimbursement rates for emergency transportation.

“Although it didn’t come without a fight, the VA finally made the right move here,” Zinke said. “Montana’s veterans shouldn’t have to sacrifice where they want to be because of paper-pushing bureaucrats. While this isn’t the end-game result we need, it is progress and gives us more time to protect our veterans and the rural healthcare providers who take care of them before this act does any more damage.”

Background:

• While Rep. Zinke opposed the VA rule from its finalization in February, there was the promise of negotiated contracts with VA to exempt vendors from reimbursement on the CMS schedule.
• In a March budget hearing, VA Secretary Denis McDonough promised Rep. Zinke that he would work with him on ensuring fair, negotiated contracts. Until this week, there has been no substantive communication with VA.
• In June, Rep. Zinke led a letter to Secretary McDonough, alongside 12 Members of Congress, asking basic questions about the rule and asking for a delay in the effective date. The VA has not responded.
• The next month, it was discovered that non-VA directed 911 emergency air and ground ambulance transports would automatically be reimbursed on the CMS schedule because they are ineligible to be negotiated via contract due to lack of VA statutory authority.
• In response, Rep. Zinke introduced a bipartisan amendment to the Fiscal Year 2024 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies appropriations bill that would defund the rule change. While Rep. Zinke testified in support of the amendment, it was not ruled in order by the House Rules Committee.
• On July 28^th, Rep. Zinke led a bipartisan group of thirty Members of Congress in another letter to Secretary McDonough asking him to delay the effective date of the finalized VA rule until Congress passes legislation authorizing the VA to contract emergency ambulance services. That letter has also gone unanswered, despite multiple follow-ups by staff.
• In September,Zinke Co-Led a Bill Countering VA’s Outdated Emergency Transportation Rule.

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