Present law provides the following concerning ground ambulance service provider ("provider") assessments: (1) The bureau of TennCare ("bureau") must calculate a uniform assessment per ground transport for each provider. Each quarter of the state fiscal year, the assessment due from each provider must equal either one-fourth of the predetermined total amount set in (2) divided by the total taxable transports for the respective quarter and then multiplied by each provider's total taxable quarterly transport; (2) The total amount of the assessment is either $10,655,000, or, if this causes the state-wide assessment to exceed 6 percent of statewide net operating revenues, an amount that generates 6 percent of statewide net operating revenues; (3) The total taxable quarterly transport data must be based on the most recent available completed quarter of transport data recorded by the office of emergency medical services ("office"). Providers must submit a quarterly reporting of all transports to the office in a manner determined by the office and the bureau; (4) If the quarterly transport data is not adequate or available for the calculation of assessments, then the bureau must use total taxable transports submitted to the office from the most recent calendar year that the office has available. The bureau must divide the amount set in (2) by the total taxable transports in order to determine the per transport rate that each provider is assessed. If neither the quarterly transport data nor total taxable transports are adequate or available, then the bureau must use the annual cost and utilization report submitted. The adequacy and availability of the data must be determined solely by the bureau; (5) The bureau must apply any annual changes to the assessment rate, calculated in (1) above, uniformly to all assessed providers; and (6) The provider assessment is set to terminate on June 30, 2023. This bill extends the assessment to June 30, 2024 and rewrites the provisions above to, instead, provide the following: (1) The bureau is required to calculate a uniform assessment per ground transport for each provider pursuant to each quarter of the state fiscal year. The assessment due from each provider must equal the rate set in (2) multiplied by each provider's total taxable quarterly transports. The total taxable quarterly transport data must be based on the most recent available completed quarter of transport data recorded by the office. Providers must submit a quarterly reporting of all transports to the office in a manner determined by the office and the bureau; (2) The assessment must generate the lesser of either $20 per taxable transport that is part of a provider's total taxable transports; or, in the event that $20 per taxable transport causes the statewide assessment to exceed 6 percent of statewide net operating revenues, an amount on a per taxable transport basis that generates 6 percent of statewide net operating revenues; (3) An exception to (1) is that if the quarterly transport data is not adequate or available for the calculation of assessments, then the bureau must use total taxable transports submitted to the office from the most recent calendar year that the office has available. If neither the quarterly transport data nor total taxable transports are adequate or available, then the bureau must use the annual cost and utilization report submitted. The adequacy and availability of the data must be determined solely by the bureau; (4) The bureau must apply any annual changes to the assessment rate calculated in (1), uniformly to all assessed providers; and (5) If a licensed provider assumes the operations of another licensed provider, then the transports of the provider whose operations were assumed are included as part of the assuming provider's annual assessment calculation as described in (1). If a provider becomes newly licensed after the most recent calendar year, and does not have annual transport totals available from the office for the purposes of the annual assessment calculation as described in (1), then the provider must submit a quarterly report to the office attesting to the provider's most recent quarterly emergency transport totals no later than the fifteenth day of the first month of each quarter in a manner determined by the office and the bureau. Upon review, the office must report to the bureau the provider's quarterly transport totals, and the provider must be assessed $20 per taxable transport. The bureau must assess the provider according to the methodology in this provision until a full calendar year of transport totals have been reported to and are available to be reported by the office. The bureau must require a provider that fails to report quarterly transports under this provision to pay the bureau, in addition to the assessment, a penalty of $50 per calendar day for each day the provider fails to submit a quarterly emergency transport report to the office. However, the bureau may waive, in whole or in part, penalties accrued upon a determination that there is good cause for such waiver. This provision does not apply to a change of ownership of an existing licensed provider.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 69-7-304(a), 69-7-304