The majority of the time, Medicare Part B will cover the costs of using an ambulance to be transported to the hospital for an emergency. They also cover costs if a person needs to go to a critical access hospital or a nursing facility. Medicare can also help cover helicopter or airplane transportation costs if the person’s condition is very serious enough that requires faster air travel rather than using ground transportation.
According to medicare.gov it states that for non-emergency, scheduled, repetitive ambulance services, the ambulance supplier must get a written order from your doctor before you get the ambulance service. The doctor’s written order must certify that ambulance transportation is medically necessary and must be dated no earlier than 60 days before you get the ambulance service.
The site also states that if a person uses an ambulance in a non-emergent situation and that EMS believes that Medicare won’t cover the costs of the ambulance service, the company must then provide the patient a ABN or Advance Beneficiary Notice of Non-coverage notice.
For more information on coverage, visit Medicare’s website at http://www.medicare.gov/coverage/ambulance-services.html