In 2024, Medicaid providers in Las Vegas submitted $19,242,397 in claims for services labeled under Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies, based on figures from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This represented a 1% increase from 2023, when $19,060,045 in claims were reported for the same service group.
Medicaid operates as a state-administered health insurance initiative, funded jointly at the state and federal levels. Serving as a significant component of the U.S. health care system, it covers low-income families and individuals, children, seniors and those with disabilities.
Since taxpayer funds support Medicaid payments, fluctuations in local billing result in visible shifts in how community health care finances are distributed.
The “Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies” category groups multiple Medicaid-billed services according to services delivered, organized by standardized HCPCS and CPT code groups. This analysis placed each code into a single service classification by matching consistent code prefixes and ranges, enabling related services to be tracked as one group while ensuring proper rankings and preventing double counting over time.
While several Medicaid service categories recorded higher spending, Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies stood as the eighth-largest category in Las Vegas by 2024 Medicaid payments.
Statewide in Nevada, Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies ranked fifth for Medicaid spending in 2024.
During the five years leading up to 2024, Medicaid payments linked to Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in Las Vegas rose by $4,244,647, up 28.3%. Notably large annual increases were logged in 2021 and 2020, reflecting times of faster growth.
Although spending in this category was city-wide, payments mainly pooled into a few ZIP codes. The largest 2024 Medicaid payments for this kind of care were in ZIP code 89101 at $14,479,464, followed by 89113 at $4,413,772, and 89145 with $303,300. Combined, these 3 ZIP codes made up 99.8% of all Las Vegas Medicaid payments for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies that year.
Payments also concentrated within a limited range of billing codes within the broader Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies group.
To compare, Medicaid payments in Las Vegas for this category went up by 1% between 2024 and 2023, while all claim categories combined in the city changed by 0.7% during that stretch.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined spending from states and the federal government through Medicaid reached about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, making up approximately 18% of the country’s overall health expenditures. This is an increase from $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This surge equals a roughly 40% rise in a relatively short time, spurred mainly by higher enrollment and service use linked to and following the pandemic.
Citing recent federal budget actions under the Trump administration, lawmakers have approved substantial changes aimed at decreasing federal Medicaid contributions and restructuring its framework. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” made law in 2025, is forecasted to reduce federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over 10 years, with provisions for work requirements and greater cost-sharing that could affect coverage and financial support for some participants. These policy adjustments are likely to transfer more cost responsibility to individual states while restricting growth in federal support, as Medicaid continues to provide coverage for tens of millions of Americans.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $14,997,749 | 16.5% |
| 2021 | $17,766,301 | 18.5% |
| 2022 | $17,557,266 | -1.2% |
| 2023 | $19,060,045 | 8.6% |
| 2024 | $19,242,396 | 1% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies | $326,413,367 | 4<0.1% |
| 2 | Evaluation and Management | $156,194,597 | 19.1% |
| 3 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $126,122,143 | 15.5% |
| 4 | Temporary National Codes (Non-Medicare) | $50,657,101 | 6.2% |
| 5 | Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment | $35,091,123 | 4.3% |
| 6 | Radiology Procedures | $25,315,727 | 3.1% |
| 7 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $19,901,097 | 2.4% |
| 8 | Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies | $19,242,396 | 2.4% |
| 9 | Surgery | $12,754,664 | 1.6% |
| 10 | Procedures / Professional Services | $11,692,640 | 1.4% |
| 11 | Dental Services | $9,076,571 | 1.1% |
| 12 | Temporary Codes | $7,718,425 | 0.9% |
| 13 | Enteral and Parenteral Therapy | $3,415,855 | 0.4% |
| 14 | Durable Medical Equipment | $2,734,687 | 0.3% |
| 15 | Anesthesia | $2,679,749 | 0.3% |
| 16 | Medical And Surgical Supplies | $2,404,872 | 0.3% |
| 17 | Vision Services | $1,731,809 | 0.2% |
| 18 | Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method | $959,574 | 0.1% |
| 19 | Hearing Services | $364,286 | <0.1% |
| 20 | Durable medical equipment (DME) Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) | $302,467 | <0.1% |
| 21 | Orthotic Procedures and services | $236,798 | <0.1% |
| 22 | Administrative, Miscellaneous and Investigational | $199,046 | <0.1% |
| 23 | Outpatient PPS | $168,073 | <0.1% |
| 24 | Pathology and Laboratory Services | $114,317 | <0.1% |
| 25 | Components, Accessories and Supplies | $102,478 | <0.1% |
| 26 | Diagnostic Radiology Services | $97,158 | <0.1% |
| 27 | Chemotherapy Drugs | $45,196 | <0.1% |
| 28 | Prosthetic Procedures | $1,046 | <0.1% |
| 29 | Coronavirus Diagnostic Panel | $795 | <0.1% |
| 30 | Other Services | $0 | <0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| A0427 | Als1-emergency | $13,890,471 | 25 |
| A0429 | Bls-emergency | $4,021,951 | 27 |
| A0425 | Ground mileage | $440,364 | 42 |
| A0180 | Noner transport lodgng recip | $303,300 | 6 |
| A0433 | Als 2 | $275,003 | 18 |
| A0428 | Bls | $172,434 | 16 |
| A0426 | Als 1 | $87,852 | 12 |
| A0434 | Specialty care transport | $47,078 | 11 |
| A0160 | Noner transport case worker | $3,939 | 55 |
Note: HCPCS codes are shown for context within the category. Category totals and rankings in this article are based on standardized service groupings rather than individual billing codes.
Information in this article was obtained from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. The source data can be found here.
