Shenandoah Medicaid payments for ambulance, transport services more than double in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Shenandoah billed $285,777 for 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 amount marks a 115.4% rise compared with 2023, when claims for the same services totaled $132,659.

Medicaid is a government-run health insurance program jointly funded by federal and state governments. It serves low-income individuals and families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities, making it a central component of the U.S. health system. The program is explained further here.

Since Medicaid payments are funded through taxpayer dollars, shifts in local billing levels provide insight into how resources are distributed across a community’s health care system.

The “Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies” group covers certain Medicaid services defined by standardized HCPCS and CPT code sets. For this assessment, each service was categorized with consistent code groupings, which enabled a review of related services together while avoiding duplication and maintaining accuracy over time.

Medicaid spending rose across several service categories in Shenandoah, but Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies represented the largest share of Medicaid payments in 2024.

Statewide in Pennsylvania, Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies ranked sixth in terms of total Medicaid payments for 2024.

Over the previous five years through 2024, Medicaid payments for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in Shenandoah rose by $270,519, which is a 1773% increase. The data show spending growth accelerated during certain years, especially in 2021 and 2023.

While expenditures in this category were spread throughout Shenandoah, the bulk of Medicaid payments were concentrated in a small set of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 17976 accounted for $285,776 in payments, representing 100% of Medicaid claims for the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies group in Shenandoah that year.

Within this service category, most Medicaid payments were linked to a small number of specific billing codes.

For perspective, from 2023 to 2024, Medicaid payments for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in Shenandoah rose 115.4%, while all Medicaid claims in the city increased 29.2% during that time.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, federal and state Medicaid spending combined reached about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, which made up roughly 18% of national health expenditures—up from $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This surge represents nearly 40% growth in a few years, primarily due to increased enrollment and greater service use during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget laws under the Trump administration included substantial measures reducing federal Medicaid funding and restructuring the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed in 2025, is expected to trim more than $1 trillion from Medicaid spending over the next 10 years and adds requirements such as work mandates and increased cost-sharing, which could decrease coverage and funding for some recipients. These policies are anticipated to transfer more financial responsibility to states and restrain the expansion of federal Medicaid aid, even as the program remains critical for millions of Americans.

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.