One bit of info you will need when dealing with Medicare patients is the Physician Certification Statement. This is a form you must submit to Medicare when making a non-emergent ambulance transport. An example is when the hospital emergency department is discharging a patient back to the nursing home. The condition is no longer emergent, so you must jusity the transportation

Here, in Florida, many of the ambulance crews do not get this form signed prior to transporting. They send the claim to Medicare and the claim is denied. Then, the ambulance company sends us a request to have the form signed. If we don't, they send the patient or the patient's relative to us complaining we won't sign the form.

What they don't understand is, they are required by Federal Law to have this form signed within 48 hours of transportation. We don't get this letter for 6-8 months later. The doctor cannot sign this form without getting a copy of the medical records, which usuaslly requires the hospital to put a request in to the storage facility. Many times, the doctor is no longer with us to sign the form and the other doctors refuse to sign the form because they did not order the transport or know about the case.

So, my suggestion to the ambulance crews..... instead of trying to pick up the nurses, as I have seen them do, do your job and get the paperwork signed before you leave the hospital with the patient. This will cut back on your Medicare denials and get the company paid.