FDNY proposes largest price hike for ambulance services in decades

BY AMANDA D’AMBROSIO

The New York City Fire Department has proposed to increase how much it charges patients and insurers for ambulance transportation, a bid that has raised concerns among health care advocates about high costs for medical care and a history of surprise billing practices.

The Fire Department proposed to charge nearly $1,400 for ambulance increases of 10% and 4%, respectively. Advanced life support ambulance services currently cost around $1,500 to $1,600, according to the proposal. rides that provide basic life support to patients—an increase of 54% over the current rate. It has charged $900 for ambulance transportation that provides basic life support since 2021, the agency said.

Its proposal included price increases on ambulance services providing advanced life support at two different levels but at smaller

Both basic life support and advanced life support services are designed to keep patients alive before they get to the hospital. But advanced life support requires the presence of Fire Department paramedics, who can perform more complex procedures, as opposed to the emergency technicians who staff basic life support rides. Though it is customary for the Fire Department to increase what it bills for ambulance services, the 54% increase for basic life support is the largest proportional price increase in the past two decades.

Since 2002, the agency has increased billing rates for basic life support services between 10% and 35% every few years, according to a City Council Fire Department budget document released in 2021.

Ambulance prices were last increased in January 2021, the department said in its proposal, add- ing the increases are necessary to cover the higher cost of labor and other services.

The department held a public hearing March 24, but there were no oral comments on the plan. Some members of the public have commented against the proposal on the department’s website, however, expressing concerns about the additional medical costs that New Yorkers will pay on top of taxes that already cover ambulance services.

The price increases could go into effect later in the spring, a department representative told Crain’s Surprise bills

Elisabeth Benjamin, vice president of health initiatives at the Community Service Society of New York, a nonprofit that advocates for the economic wellbeing of New Yorkers, said in written testimony that ambulance rides can often result in surprise, out-of-network hospital bills, leaving patients stuck with high expenses.

“New York City should find another way to ensure that the Fire Department has the resources it needs,” Benjamin said. “Patients cannot afford this increase, and CSS respectfully asks that the Fire Department maintain its existing rates.” ■

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