Find policies, billing codes, payers, states, and providers
Policy Clarification for Air Ambulance Wing-to-Wing Transfers
Customize your policy alerts
Sign up for all Alaska Medicaid policy alerts
Know when Alaska Medicaid releases new policies or updates existing guidance.
Monitor payer policy activity
Defines billing rules for air ambulance wing-to-wing transfers and mixed fixed/rotary transfers for Alaska Medicaid providers (Provider Type 102).
No material clinical or coverage changes in this revision.
Air Ambulance Transfer Billing Rules
Air ambulance transfer billing rules
Billing criteria for wing-to-wing and mixed aircraft transfers
ALL of the following
- Bill the lift-off fee using the procedure code that aligns with the aircraft (fixed or rotary) that provided the greater total patient-loaded miles.
- Split patient-loaded statute miles on two separate lines: one line for rotary aircraft mileage and one line for fixed-wing aircraft mileage.
Codes and Mileage Reporting
Billing and Claim Filing Requirements for Providers
Wing-to-wing transfer billing requirements
A wing-to-wing transfer occurs when the air ambulance lands en route to the destination to transfer the patient to another aircraft. When a wing-to-wing transfer occurs providers must follow these billing rules to avoid denial.
- Bill the entire transport on a single claim; multiple claims will be denied.
- Include only one lift-off fee on the claim; additional lift-off fees will be denied.
- Report patient-loaded statute miles to the tenth of a mile on the same claim as the lift-off fee.
Mixed fixed/rotary transfer billing
When a transfer involves both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, bill so that the lift-off fee aligns with the aircraft that provided the greater total patient-loaded miles and split mileage lines by aircraft type.
- Bill the lift-off procedure code (fixed or rotary) that corresponds to the aircraft providing the greater total patient-loaded miles.
- Report patient-loaded statute miles on two separate lines: one line for rotary-wing miles and one line for fixed-wing miles, each to the tenth of a mile.
- Example billing for a transfer where rotary then fixed wing complete the transport:
- • Lift-off fee: 1 unit of A0430 TN (rural designation based on patient initial pick-up location).
- • Rotary wing mileage: 14.3 units of A0436 TN.
- • Fixed wing mileage: 260.9 units of A0435 TN.
Key Definitions
OpenPayer is powered by Trek Health's payer performance platform. Trek continuously ingests, validates, and normalizes Transparency in Coverage data alongside payer policies and other commercial payer data to create a structured payer intelligence foundation. OpenPayer uses this foundation to deliver personalized search results, dynamically generated policy pages, and tailored policy monitoring based on each user's payers, specialties, billing codes, and areas of interest. The same intelligence powers broader payer performance workflows, including reimbursement benchmarking, contract evaluation, payer negotiations, and financial decision-making.