Medicaid spending for ambulance and transport services surges 41.2% in Shattuck in 2024

Shattuck’s Medicaid providers billed $4,888 for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in 2024, as reported in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This represents a 41.2% rise over 2023, when the same service category saw $3,462 in claims.

Medicaid operates as a public health insurance initiative, managed by states with joint federal and state funding. It provides health coverage for eligible low-income individuals, seniors, children, and people with disabilities, making up one of the largest elements of U.S. health spending.

Since taxpayer funding supports Medicaid, fluctuations in billed service amounts locally illustrate how public health resources are distributed within a community.

The “Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies” category includes a range of Medicaid-billed services grouped by the nature of care delivered, identified through standardized HCPCS and CPT codes. Each billing code analyzed was categorized under one group using established code markers, which enabled related services to be combined without overlapping and ensured correct rankings over time.

While Medicaid expenditures went up across multiple categories, Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies was the second-highest by total Medicaid payments in Shattuck during 2024.

In 2024, statewide Arkansas data placed the same category at sixth for total Medicaid dollars paid out.

From five years before 2024, Medicaid payments for ambulance and transport services in Shattuck grew by $4,888, reflecting an overall 0% change. During some periods, particularly in 2023 and 2022, the rate of increase accelerated with sharper year-over-year jumps.

The city’s payments for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies were distributed across various neighborhoods, though most concentrated in a few ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 73858 alone accounted for $4,887, comprising 100% of such Medicaid service payments in Shattuck that year.

Medicaid dollars within this service category were predominantly allocated to a small set of individual billing codes.

To further compare, Shattuck’s 41.2% rise for Medicaid payments in this category between 2024 and 2023 outpaced the city’s overall change of 28.5% across all Medicaid claim types during that same period.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid spending was about $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023, making up roughly 18% of all national health expenses, a significant jump from $613.5 billion in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This marks an increase of around 40% over a few years, largely resulting from higher enrollment and greater utilization during the pandemic and after.

Federal budget legislation passed during the Trump administration introduced major proposals reducing federal Medicaid contributions and altering program structure. For instance, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” became law in 2025 and is set to trim federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion in a decade. It brings policy changes like work requirements and added cost-sharing, which may reduce benefits or funding for certain recipients. Such provisions could push more Medicaid costs onto states and cap the federal government’s funding growth, even as the program continues to support tens of millions in the U.S.

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.