(1) The medical assistance administration (MAA) pays for nonemergency ground ambulance transportation at the BLS ambulance level of service under the following conditions:

(a) The client is bed-confined and must be transported by stretcher or gurney (in the prone or supine position) for medical or safety reasons. Justification for stretcher or gurney must be documented in the client's record; or

(b) The client's medical condition requires that he or she have basic ambulance level medical attention available during transportation, regardless of bed confinement.

(2) MAA requires ambulance providers to thoroughly document the circumstances requiring nonemergency ground ambulance transportation as follows:

(a) For nonemergency, scheduled ambulance services that are repetitive in nature, the ambulance provider must obtain a written physician certification statement (PCS) from the client's attending physician certifying that the ambulance services are medically necessary. The PCS must specify the expected duration of treatment or span of dates during which the client requires repetitive nonemergency ambulance services. The PCS must be dated no earlier than sixty days before the first date of service. A PCS for repetitive, nonemergency ambulance services is valid for sixty days as long as the client's medical condition does not improve. Kidney dialysis clients may receive nonemergency ground ambulance transportation to and from outpatient kidney dialysis services for up to three months per authorization span.

(b) For nonemergency ambulance services that are either unscheduled or scheduled on a nonrepetitive basis, the ambulance provider must obtain from the client's attending physician a signed PCS within forty-eight hours after the transport. The PCS must certify that the ambulance services are medically necessary.

(c) If the ambulance provider is not able to obtain a signed PCS from the attending physician, a signed certificate of medical necessity form must be obtained from a qualified provider who is employed by the client's attending physician or by the hospital or facility where the client is being treated and who has personal knowledge of the client's medical condition at the time the ambulance service was furnished. In lieu of the attending physician, one of the following may sign the certification form: a physician assistant, a nurse practitioner, a registered nurse, a clinical nurse specialist, or a hospital discharge planner. The signed certificate must be obtained from the alternate provider no later than twenty-one calendar days from the date of service.

(d) If, after twenty-one days, the ambulance provider is unable to obtain the signed PCS from the attending physician or alternate provider for nonemergency ambulance services that are either unscheduled or scheduled on a nonrepetitive basis, the ambulance provider may submit a claim to MAA, as long as the provider is able to show acceptable documentation of the attempts to obtain the PCS.

(e) In addition to the signed certification statement of medical necessity, all other program criteria must be met in order for MAA to pay for the service.

(3) Ground ambulance providers may choose to enter into contracts with MAA's transportation brokers to provide nonemergency transportation at a negotiated payment rate. Any such subcontracted rate may not exceed the costs MAA would incur under subsection (1) of this section.