Fire departments across the United States have long struggled with outdated federal reimbursement policies which fail to reimburse fire departments for the cost of providing EMS treatment without transportation and prohibit transporting patients to alternative destinations like urgent care clinics. However, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) announced today that they will begin testing a model policy in which CMMI reimburses fire departments for the cost of providing Medicare beneficiaries with treatment-without-transportation and transporting patients to alternative destinations. Under this policy, fire departments soon will be able to apply for inclusion in this model policy and may even be reimbursed for EMS services provided to Medicare beneficiaries by EMS personnel working from non-transport vehicles including fire apparatus and quick response vehicles