Medicare, Medicaid, and Children's Health Insurance Programs: Announcement of the Extension of Temporary Moratoria on Enrollment of Part B Non-Emergency Ground Ambulance Suppliers and Home Health Agencies in Designated Geographic Locations. Extension of temporary moratoria.

This document announces the extension of statewide temporary moratoria on the enrollment of new Medicare Part B non-emergency ground ambulance providers and suppliers and Medicare home health agencies and branch locations in Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Texas, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, as applicable, to prevent and combat fraud, waste, and abuse. This extension also applies to the enrollment of new non- emergency ground ambulance suppliers and home health agencies and branch locations in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program in those states.

Medicare, Medicaid, and Children's Health Insurance Programs: Announcement of the Extension of Temporary Moratoria on Enrollment of Part B Non-Emergency Ground Ambulance Suppliers and Home Health Agencies in Designated Geographic Locations. Extension of temporary moratoria.

This document announces the extension of statewide temporary moratoria on the enrollment of new Medicare Part B non-emergency ground ambulance providers and suppliers and Medicare home health agencies, subunits, and branch locations in Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Texas, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, as applicable, to prevent and combat fraud, waste, and abuse. This extension also applies to the enrollment of new non-emergency ground ambulance suppliers and home health agencies, subunits, and branch locations in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program in those states. For purposes of these moratoria, providers that were participating as network providers in one or more Medicaid managed care organizations prior to January 1, 2018 will not be considered "newly enrolling" when they are required to enroll with the State Medicaid agency pursuant to a new statutory requirement, and thus will not be subject to the moratoria.

Medicare, Medicaid, and Children's Health Insurance Programs: Announcement of Revisions to the Provider Enrollment Moratoria Access Waiver Demonstration for Part B Non-Emergency Ground Ambulance Suppliers and Home Health Agencies in Moratoria-Designated Geographic Locations. Revisions of the waiver demonstration.

This document announces revisions to the Provider Enrollment Moratoria Access Waiver Demonstration (PEWD) for Part B Non-Emergency Ground Ambulance Suppliers and Home Health Agencies. The demonstration was implemented in accordance with section 402(a)(1)(J) of the Social Security Amendments of 1967 and, as revised, gives CMS the authority to grant waivers to the statewide enrollment moratoria on a case-by-case basis in response to access to care issues and previously denied enrollment applications because of statewide moratoria implementation, and to subject providers and suppliers enrolling via such waivers to heightened screening, oversight, and investigations.

Medicare, Medicaid, and Children's Health Insurance Programs: Announcement of the Extension of Temporary Moratoria on Enrollment of Part B Non-Emergency Ground Ambulance Suppliers and Home Health Agencies in Designated Geographic Locations. Extension of temporary moratoria.

This document announces the extension of statewide temporary moratoria on the enrollment of new Medicare Part B non-emergency ground ambulance providers and suppliers and Medicare home health agencies, subunits, and branch locations in Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Texas, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, as applicable, to prevent and combat fraud, waste, and abuse. This extension also applies to the enrollment of new non-emergency ground ambulance suppliers and home health agencies, subunits, and branch locations in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program in those states.

Transport of pregnant women and obstetric emergencies in India: an analysis of the '108' ambulance service system data.

BACKGROUND: The transport of pregnant women to an appropriate health facility plays a pivotal role in preventing maternal deaths. In India, state-run call-centre based ambulance systems ('108' and '102'), along with district-level Janani Express and local community-based innovations, provide transport services for pregnant women. We studied the role of '108' ambulance services in transporting pregnant women routinely and obstetric emergencies in India. METHODS: This study was an analysis of '108' ambulance call-centre data from six states for the year 2013-14. We estimated the number of expected pregnancies and obstetric complications for each state and calculated the proportions of these transported using '108'. The characteristics of the pregnant women transported, their obstetric complications, and the distance and travel-time for journeys made, are described for each state. RESULTS: The estimated proportion of pregnant women transported by '108' ambulance services ranged from 9.0 % in Chhattisgarh to 20.5 % in Himachal Pradesh. The '108' service transported an estimated 12.7 % of obstetric emergencies in Himachal Pradesh, 7.2 % in Gujarat and less than 3.5 % in other states. Women who used the service were more likely to be from rural backgrounds and from lower socio-economic strata of the population. Across states, the ambulance journeys traversed less than 10-11 km to reach 50 % of obstetric emergencies and less than 10-21 km to reach hospitals from the pick-up site. The overall time from the call to reaching the hospital was less than 2 h for 89 % to 98 % of obstetric emergencies in 5 states, although this percentage was 61 % in Himachal Pradesh. Inter-facility transfers ranged between 2.4 % -11.3 % of all '108' transports. CONCLUSION: A small proportion of pregnant women and obstetric emergencies made use of '108' services. Community-based studies are required to study knowledge and preferences, and to assess the potential for increasing or rationalising the use of '108' services.

Medicare, Medicaid, and Children's Health Insurance Programs: Announcement of the Provider Enrollment Moratoria Access Waiver Demonstration of Part B Non-Emergency Ground Ambulance Suppliers and Home Health Agencies in Moratoria-Designated Geographic Locations. Implementation of the waiver demonstration.

This notice announces the Provider Enrollment Moratoria Access Waiver Demonstration of Part B Non-Emergency Ground Ambulance Suppliers and Home Health Agencies in 6 states. The demonstration is being implemented in accordance with section 402 of the Social Security Amendments of 1967 and gives CMS the authority to grant waivers to the statewide enrollment moratoria on a case-by-case basis in response to access to care issues, and to subject providers and suppliers enrolling via such waivers to heightened screening, oversight, and investigations.

Medicare, Medicaid, and Children's Health Insurance Programs: Announcement of the Implementation and Extension of Temporary Moratoria on Enrollment of Part B Non-Emergency Ground Ambulance Suppliers and Home Health Agencies in Designated Geographic Locations and Lifting of the Temporary Moratoria on Enrollment of Part B Emergency Ground Ambulance Suppliers in All Geographic Locations. Extension, implementation, and lifting of temporary moratoria.

This document announces the extension of temporary moratoria on the enrollment of new Medicare Part B non-emergency ground ambulance suppliers and Medicare home health agencies (HHAs), subunits, and branch locations in specific locations within designated metropolitan areas in Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Texas, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to prevent and combat fraud, waste, and abuse. It also announces the implementation of temporary moratoria on the enrollment of new Medicare Part B non-emergency ground ambulance suppliers and Medicare HHAs, subunits, and branch locations in Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Texas, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey on a statewide basis. In addition, it announces the lifting of the moratoria on all Part B emergency ground ambulance suppliers. These moratoria, and the changes described in this document, also apply to the enrollment of HHAs and non-emergency ground ambulance suppliers in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Medicare, Medicaid, and Children's Health Insurance Programs: announcement of the extended temporary moratoria on enrollment of ambulance suppliers and home health agencies in designated geographic locations. Extension of temporary moratoria.

This document announces the extension of temporary moratoria on the enrollment of new ambulance suppliers and home health agencies (HHAs) in specific locations within designated metropolitan areas in Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Texas, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to prevent and combat fraud, waste, and abuse.

Organization of a United States county system for comprehensive acute stroke care.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Organized systems of care have the potential to improve acute stroke care delivery. The current report describes the experience of implementing a county-wide system of spoke-and-hub stroke neurology receiving centers (SNRC) that incorporated several comprehensive stroke center recommendations. METHODS: Observational study of patients with suspected stroke of <5 hours duration transported by emergency medical system personnel to an SNRC during the first year of this system. RESULTS: A total of 1360 patients with suspected stroke were evaluated at 9 hub SNRC, of which 553 (40.7%) had a discharge diagnosis of ischemic stroke. Of these 553, intravenous tissue-type plasminogen activator was administered to 110 patients (19.9% of ischemic strokes). Care at the 6 neurointerventional-ready SNRC was a major focus in which 25.1% (99/395) of the patients with ischemic stroke received acute intravenous or intra-arterial reperfusion therapy, and in which provision of such therapies was less common with milder stroke, older age, and Hispanic origin. The door-to-needle time for intravenous tissue-type plasminogen activator met the <60-minute target in only 25% of patients and was 37% longer (P=0.0001) when SNRC were neurointerventional-ready. CONCLUSIONS: A stroke system that incorporates features of comprehensive stroke centers can be effectively implemented with substantial rates of acute reperfusion therapy administration. Experiences potentially useful to broader implementation of comprehensive stroke centers are considered.

Medicare program; payment policies under the physician fee schedule, five-year review of work relative value units, clinical laboratory fee schedule: signature on requisition, and other revisions to part B for CY 2012. Final rule with comment period.

This final rule with comment period addresses changes to the physician fee schedule and other Medicare Part B payment policies to ensure that our payment systems are updated to reflect changes in medical practice and the relative value of services. It also addresses, implements or discusses certain statutory provisions including provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (collectively known as the Affordable Care Act) and the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA) of 2008. In addition, this final rule with comment period discusses payments for Part B drugs; Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule: Signature on Requisition; Physician Quality Reporting System; the Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program; the Physician Resource-Use Feedback Program and the value modifier; productivity adjustment for ambulatory surgical center payment system and the ambulance, clinical laboratory, and durable medical equipment prosthetics orthotics and supplies (DMEPOS) fee schedules; and other Part B related issues.

ED relief.

Expanded health care coverage under reform and the shortage of primary care providers are sure to drive more patients to your emergency department. Here are some of the ways that hospitals are working to avert a crisis.

A descriptive review and discussion of litigation claims against ambulance services.

INTRODUCTION: Litigation claims against the NHS are increasing. Society is less tolerant of mistakes or inadequate service and litigation claims are now becoming increasingly accepted. METHODS: All claims registered with the NHS litigation authority, both closed and still open, were collated from all the ambulance trusts across England in the past 10 years. All incidents notified between 19 December 1995 and 19 April 2005 were included. The data were then analysed according to time, description of the incident, cause of the incident and type of damage incurred. Cases were also described according to the total claim. Potential actions and further work are discussed. RESULTS: Between 19 December 1995 and 19 April 2005 there were 272 cases of litigation conducted through the NHS litigation authority against ambulance services across the United Kingdom. The greatest proportion of claims was as a result of lack of assistance or care, which was alleged in 75 cases. Another significant proportion of cases related to a "failure/delay in treatment" or "diagnosis" accounting for 36 and 34 cases, respectively. The most common type of injury was a fatality in 69 cases and unnecessary pain in a further 56 claims. 17 claims were for sums of over pound 1 million; however, most of these cases were still ongoing. These cases are described in more detail; the type of outcome tended to be brain damage or significant spinal injury rather than a fatality, reflecting the higher cost of continuing long-term care of a chronically injured person. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that the key clinical areas that need to be addressed are obstetric care, spinal injury recognition and the decision not to convey a person to hospital. The first two of these have been addressed in the recent release of the Joint Royal Colleges Ambulance Liaison Committee guidelines. The major areas of organisation relate to reducing delays and providing the safe transfer of patients.

[Implantation of the emergency ambulance service in Salvador, Bahia: reality and challenges]. / A implantação do projeto de atendimento Móvel de Urgência em Salvador/BA: panorama e desafios.

The goal of this study was to describe the implementation of the emergency ambulance service of Salvador, Bahia (SAMU-192). The Ministry of Health provided the legal basis and regulations for its implementation. The main purpose of this service is the provision of free primary level healthcare to individuals, with clinical, surgical, traumatic and psychiatric aggravations that cause suffering, sequels or death and occur outside the hospital environment. The specific goals of SAMU-192 was to grant free healthcare to urgency and emergency situations, under the hierarchy and regulations of the Single Health System (SUS) of the Brazilian government, assuring that public resources will be available and integrated to the complementary healthcare network. Investments for the installation of the service were agreed on in the city and with federal and state management commissions. To turn SAMU-192 into reality, several challenges need to be accomplished, including community education, professional qualification and evaluation of human and material resources so as to provide basic emergency care with the appropriate quality.

Regulatory changes for the treatment of patients with heart attacks.

This editorial discusses the urgent need to reform the regulatory system that currently impedes treatment for patients with heart attacks. Existing regulations and practices often direct ambulances carrying patients with heart attacks to under-equipped facilities, and the absence of necessary advertising guidelines results in hospitals without the latest lifesaving technologies intentionally misdirecting patients to their facilities through misleading marketing. As a result, patients die needlessly. Two congressional responses are recommended in this editorial to address this national public health crisis. First, Congress should enact legislation similar to that which it created for trauma care, resulting in patients in need of critical cardiac care being directed to the most appropriate, not merely the closest, facility. Second, Congress should enact legislation that would make Medicare participation conditional on hospitals' following guidelines on how they may advertise their ability to treat patients with heart attacks. In conclusion, Congress should act to save the lives of patients with heart attacks currently being lost as a consequence of regulatory and market failures.

The implementation of the Medical Regulation Office and Mobile Emergency Attendance System and its impact on the gravity profile of non-traumatic afflictions treated in a University Hospital: a research study.

BACKGROUND: The public health system of Brazil is structured by a network of increasing complexity, but the low resolution of emergency care at pre-hospital units and the lack of organization of patient flow overloaded the hospitals, mainly the ones of higher complexity. The knowledge of this phenomenon induced Ribeirão Preto to implement the Medical Regulation Office and the Mobile Emergency Attendance System. The objective of this study was to analyze the impact of these services on the gravity profile of non-traumatic afflictions in a University Hospital. METHODS: The study conducted a retrospective analysis of the medical records of 906 patients older than 13 years of age who entered the Emergency Care Unit of the Hospital of the University of São Paulo School of Medicine at Ribeirão Preto. All presented acute non-traumatic afflictions and were admitted to the Internal Medicine, Surgery or Neurology Departments during two study periods: May 1996 (prior to) and May 2001 (after the implementation of the Medical Regulation Office and Mobile Emergency Attendance System). Demographics and mortality risk levels calculated by Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) were determined. RESULTS: From 1996 to 2001, the mean age increased from 49 +/- 0.9 to 52 +/- 0.9 (P = 0.021), as did the percentage of co-morbidities, from 66.6 to 77.0 (P = 0.0001), the number of in-hospital complications from 260 to 284 (P = 0.0001), the mean calculated APACHE II mortality risk increased from 12.0 +/- 0.5 to 14.8 +/- 0.6 (P = 0.0008) and mortality rate from 6.1 to 12.2 (P = 0.002). The differences were more significant for patients admitted to the Internal Medicine Department. CONCLUSION: The implementation of the Medical Regulation and Mobile Emergency Attendance System contributed to directing patients with higher gravity scores to the Emergency Care Unit, demonstrating the potential of these services for hierarchical structuring of pre-hospital networks and referrals.

Medicare program; revisions to payment policies under the physician fee schedule, and other Part B payment policies for CY 2008; revisions to the payment policies of ambulance services under the ambulance fee schedule for CY 2008; and the amendment of the e-prescribing exemption for computer generated facsimile transmissions. Final rule with comment period.

This final rule with comment period addresses certain provisions of the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, as well as making other proposed changes to Medicare Part B payment policy. We are making these changes to ensure that our payment systems are updated to reflect changes in medical practice and the relative value of services. This final rule with comment period also discusses refinements to resource-based practice expense (PE) relative value units (RVUs); geographic practice cost indices (GPCI) changes; malpractice RVUs; requests for additions to the list of telehealth services; several coding issues including additional codes from the 5-Year Review; payment for covered outpatient drugs and biologicals; the competitive acquisition program (CAP); clinical lab fee schedule issues; payment for renal dialysis services; performance standards for independent diagnostic testing facilities; expiration of the physician scarcity area (PSA) bonus payment; conforming and clarifying changes for comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation facilities (CORFs); a process for updating the drug compendia; physician self referral issues; beneficiary signature for ambulance transport services; durable medical equipment (DME) update; the chiropractic services demonstration; a Medicare economic index (MEI) data change; technical corrections; standards and requirements related to therapy services under Medicare Parts A and B; revisions to the ambulance fee schedule; the ambulance inflation factor for CY 2008; and amending the e-prescribing exemption for computer-generated facsimile transmissions. We are also finalizing the calendar year (CY) 2007 interim RVUs and are issuing interim RVUs for new and revised procedure codes for CY 2008. As required by the statute, we are announcing that the physician fee schedule update for CY 2008 is -10.1 percent, the initial estimate for the sustainable growth rate for CY 2008 is -0.1 percent, and the conversion factor (CF) for CY 2008 is $34.0682.

[Atypical injury pattern of a pedestrian run over by an unimog in the epigastric region]. / Atypisches Verletzungsbild nach tödlicher Uberrollung durch einen Unimog im Oberbauchbereich.

Strongly intoxicated, a 37-year-old man fell in front of the right back wheel of an emergency vehicle (MB Unimog) and was run over according to eye witnesses. He died in hospital shortly afterwards. The autopsy revealed that he bled to death from a traumatic liver rupture (bursting of the right hepatic lobe and severing of a piece of tissue measuring 17 x 8 x 4 cm). There were no injuries classicaly seen in victims run over by a car. The atypical injury findings in this case are due to the special features of the accident vehicle: The Unimog (an all-wheel vehicle with a fixed rear axle and flat coils) struck the right side of the body lying on the street with its rear wheel and was then lifted over the body by its fixed axle without touching the left side.

Fasten their seatbelts: legal restraint of children in car seats and road ambulances.

Registered nurses transport sick children in ambulances and other road vehicles every day in the United Kingdom (U.K.). Safely restraining the child, the equipment and the accompanying adults is a matter which should be addressed by all departments who transport children. A motor vehicle collision may cause an unrestrained child to be seriously injured. An unrestrained child is likely to inflict serious injury on the accompanying nurse or parent. Recent changes in child seat law require that appropriate measures must be put in place to ensure sick children receive the safest possible care. The use of a Regulation 44 compliant child-seat or an appropriately sized five-point stretcher harness should be the default standard when transporting a child in a road vehicle under any circumstances. Recent research also indicates that young infants must never be allowed to sleep in car seats on the ward because of the increased risk of obstructive sleep apnoea.