HB 301: Ambulance Provider Payment Amendments - Utah

Substitute #3 → Enrolled · 2 edits · Mar 26, 2025

MINOR

This bill updates the final repeal dates for various state laws and programs, ensuring they expire on specific future dates rather than remaining in effect indefinitely. The changes clarify when specific councils, task forces, and funding accounts will cease to exist, ranging from immediate expiration in 2024 to later dates in 2034. This provides legal certainty for government agencies and stakeholders regarding when these programs must be wound down or when their authority ends.

Scope change

The bill narrows the scope of several existing programs by establishing definitive end dates for their legal authority, effectively terminating their operation after the specified repeal dates.

TIMELINE

Specific repeal dates were assigned to multiple sections across Titles 34, 53, and 53B, including the Workers' Compensation Advisory Council (July 1, 2027), the Coal Miner Certification Panel (July 1, 2034), and various education and safety task forces (mostly December 31, 2025).

The effective date of the bill was changed from February 18, 2025, to March 11, 2025, indicating a delay in when these repeal provisions officially take effect.

Introduced → Substitute #1 · 7 edits

MODERATE

The bill was amended to add a Senate sponsor and require an audit by the Legislative Auditor General. It also updated the rules to separately cover mileage rates and medication costs, clarifying that balance billing is prohibited for denied claims. The definition of 'balance bill' was refined to explicitly exclude billing for services that were denied as uncovered.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded to include a mandatory audit requirement and to explicitly address mileage and medication billing separately from the base transport rate.

ENFORCEMENT

Added a requirement for the Office of the Legislative Auditor General to conduct an audit of ambulance providers and insurers if prioritized by the Legislative Audit Subcommittee.

DEFINITION

Added a new definition for 'Medication maximum cost' to establish a cap based on national averages and Medicaid rates.

REQUIREMENT

Separated mileage and medication costs from the base rate, requiring insurers to cover these as allowable expenses when charged correctly.

Refined the definition of 'balance bill' to explicitly state that billing for services denied as uncovered is not considered balance billing.

Removed the requirement for insurers to pay paramedic rates directly to providers when paramedics are on board, limiting the direct payment rule to the base transport rate.

TIMELINE

Changed the effective date of the bill from May 7, 2025, to February 10, 2025.

TECHNICAL

Removed the specific requirement for insurers to make payments within 30 or 45 days after receiving a claim.

Substitute #2 → Substitute #3 · 4 edits

MODERATE

This bill substitutes a new version of HB 301 that expands coverage to include workers' compensation claims in addition to health benefit plans, adds a new code section for workers' compensation reimbursement, and updates the list of repealed statutes to include Section 63I-1-234. The core ambulance payment rates and balance billing prohibitions remain substantively the same.

Scope change

The bill now explicitly extends the ambulance reimbursement requirements to workers' compensation claims and employers, whereas the previous version only applied to health benefit plans.

SCOPE

Added Section 34A-2-407.1 to require workers' compensation insurers and employers to accept established ambulance rates and pay directly to providers.

REQUIREMENT

Updated the highlighted provisions list to explicitly mention workers' compensation alongside health benefit plans.

TECHNICAL

Added Section 63I-1-234 to the list of repealed Utah Code sections in the long title.

Minor formatting and numbering adjustments throughout the bill text.

Substitute #1 → Substitute #2 · 5 edits

MODERATE

This bill substitutes a new version of HB 301 that maintains the core ambulance payment reforms but adds a repeal date provision and corrects the Senate sponsor name from 'LONG TITLE' to 'Evan J. Vickers'. The substantive policy content regarding ambulance rates, balance billing prohibitions, and audit requirements remains largely unchanged from the previous version.

Scope change

The bill now includes 63I-1-231, 63I-1-253, and 63I-1-231 in the Utah Code Sections Affected list, expanding the scope of amendments beyond just 53-2d-503 and 31A-22-627.1.

TECHNICAL

Added a repeal date provision to the bill's highlighted provisions list.

Changed Senate Sponsor name from 'LONG TITLE' to 'Evan J. Vickers'.

Updated formatting and line numbering throughout the document to reflect the substitute bill version.

Removed the timestamp '2-10-25 3:24 PM' from the previous version.

SCOPE

Added three additional Utah Code sections (63I-1-231, 63I-1-253, 63I-1-231) to the list of affected statutes.

Ambulance Provider Payment Amendments

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