Ground Ambulance Industry Trends, 2017-2020: Analysis of Medicare Fee-for-Service Claims
This report includes descriptive analyses of ground ambulance trends from 2017 to 2022.
Media Inquiries
To schedule an interview, call (310) 451-6913 or email media@rand.org.
Sara E. Heins is a policy researcher at RAND. Her research interests include substance use and dependence, injury, occupational health, health information technology, maternal and child health, and emergency medical services. Current RAND projects include assisting the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid with collecting and analyzing data from ground ambulance organizations. Recently completed RAND projects include developing and validating algorithms to predict functional impairment among Medicare beneficiaries and reviewing state-level efforts to link Medicaid claims and birth certificate data to advance maternal and child health.
Prior to beginning her doctoral program, Heins worked as a data analyst for the Center for Injury Research and Policy and the Major Extremity Trauma Research Consortium, both at Johns Hopkins. She received her Ph.D. in health policy and management with a concentration in health services research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health, and her B.A. in biology and society from Cornell University.
Education
Ph.D. in health policy and management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; B.A. in biology, Cornell University
Selected Work
- Heins, Sara E., Denis Agniel, Jacob Mann, and Melony E. Sorbero, Reviewing, Refining, and Validating Claims-Based Algorithms of Frailty and Functional Impairment: Final Report, RAND Corporation (RR-A1871-1), 2023
- Heins SE, Agniel D, Mann J, Sorbero ME, "Development and Validation of Algorithms to Predict Activity, Mobility, and Memory Limitations Using Medicare Claims and Post-Acute Care Assessments," Journal of Applied Gerontology, 42(7), 2023
- Faherty LJ, Heins SE, Kranz AM, Patrick SW, Stein BD, "Association Between Punitive Policies and Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Among Medicaid-Insured Infants in Complex Policy Environments," Addiction, 117(1), 2022
- Heins SE, Buttorff CB, Armstrong C, Pacula RL, "Claims-Based Measures of Prescription Opioid Utilization: A Practical Guide for Researchers," Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 2021
- Faherty LJ, Heins SE, Kranz AM, Stein BD, "Postpartum treatment for substance use disorder among mothers of infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome and prenatal substance exposure," Women’s Health Reports, 2(1), 2021
- Heins SE, Faherty LJ, Kranz AM, "A Comparison of Approaches to Identify Live Births Using the Medicaid Analytic Extract," Health Services and Outcomes Research Methodology, 2021
- Heins SE, Castillo RC, "Changes in Opioid Prescribing Following the Implementation of State Policies Limiting Morphine Equivalent Daily Dose in a Commercially Insured Population," Medical Care, 59(9), 2021
- Heins SE, Frey KP, Alexander GC, Castillo RC, "Reducing High Dose Opioid Prescribing: State-Level Morphine Equivalent Daily Dose Policies, 2007-2017," Pain Medicine, 21(2), 2020
Authored by Sara E. Heins
20 Results
