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Decision: unknown

 
The rules say that plans must pay for a medical service or item if regular Medicare would pay for it in this case. 
You can find this rule at 42 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Section 422.101. 
 
The rules say that Medicare pays for air ambulance services only if the enrollees medical condition is such that 
transportation by either basic, the provision of medically necessary supplies and services or advanced life 
support, an emergency medical technician (EMT) intermediate or EMT-Paramedic ground ambulance is not 
appropriate. Air ambulance services may be covered only if: 
 
1. certain vehicle and crew requirements are met; 
2. the enrollees medical condition needed immediate and rapid ambulance transport that could not have been 
provided by ground ambulance; and  
3. either the point of pickup is not accessible by ground vehicle or great distances or other obstacles are 
involved in getting the patient to the nearest hospital with appropriate facilities. 
 
You can find this rule in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Internet Only Manual, 
Publication 100-02, Medicare Benefit Policy Manual, Chapter 10, Sections 10.4, and 10.4.1, and 30.1.1. 
 
The rules say that providers/suppliers must report services correctly. Procedures should be reported with the 
Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code that describes the services performed. You can find this rule in 
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Medicare National Correct Coding Initiative Policy Manual 
for Medicare Services, Chapter I(A). 
 
Effective January 1, 2002, new modifiers were developed to allow practitioners and suppliers to bill Medicare 
for items and services that are statutorily non-covered or do not meet the definition of a Medicare benefit and 
items and services not considered reasonable and necessary by Medicare. 
 
1. Definitions of the GA, GY, and GZ Modifiers. The modifiers are defined below: 
 
GA - Waiver of liability statement on file. 
GY - Item or service statutorily excluded or does not meet the definition of any Medicare benefit. 
GZ - Item or service expected to be denied as not reasonable and necessary. 
 The GZ modifier must be used when physicians, practitioners, or suppliers want to indicate that they expect 
that Medicare will deny an item or service as not reasonable and necessary and they have not had an Advance 
Beneficiary Notification (ABN) signed by the beneficiary. You can find this information in CMS Manual 
system, Pub 100-04 Medicare Claims Processing, Transmittal 2148, Change Request 7228. 
 
Effective for dates of service on and after July 1, 2011, A/B Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) 
shall automatically deny claim line(s) items submitted with a GZ modifier. A/B MACs shall not perform 
complex medical review on claim line(s) items submitted with a GZ modifier. All MACs shall make all 
language published in educational outreach materials, articles, and on their Web sites, consistent to state all 
claim line(s) items submitted with a GZ modifier shall be denied automatically and will not be subject to 
complex medical review. You can find this information in the CMS Internet only Manual, Publication 100-04, 
Medicare Claims Processing Manual, Chapter 23, Section 20.9. 
 
If you want to read these Medicare rules, you can go to this website www.medicareappeal.com. 
 
The Plan contract says that the Plan covers items and services in accordance with Medicare rules.