(a)

(1) The Division of Medical Services of the Department of Human Services shall send a notice of assessment to each medical transportation provider informing the medical transportation provider of the assessment rate, the medical transportation provider's net operating revenue calculation, and the estimated assessment amount owed by the medical transportation provider for the applicable fiscal year.

(2) Except as set forth in subdivision (a)(3) of this section, annual notices of assessment shall be sent at least forty-five (45) days before the due date for the first quarterly assessment payment of each fiscal year.

(3) The first notice of assessment shall be sent within seventy-five (75) days after receipt by the division of notification from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that the payments required under § 20-77-2809 and, if necessary, the waiver granted under 42 C.F.R. § 433.68 have been approved.

(b) The medical transportation provider shall have thirty (30) days from the date of its receipt of a notice of assessment to review and verify the assessment rate, the medical transportation provider's net operating revenue calculation, and the estimated assessment amount.

(c)

(1) If a medical transportation provider operates, conducts, or maintains more than one (1) medical transportation provider in the state, the medical transportation provider shall pay the assessment for each medical transportation provider separately.

(2) However, if the medical transportation provider operates more than one (1) medical transportation provider under one (1) Medicaid provider number, the medical transportation provider may pay the assessment for the medical transportation providers in the aggregate.

(d)

(1) For a medical transportation provider subject to the assessment imposed under § 20-77-2803 that ceases to conduct medical transportation operations or maintain its state license or did not conduct medical transportation operations throughout a state fiscal year, the assessment for the state fiscal year in which the cessation occurs shall be adjusted by multiplying the annual assessment computed under § 20-77-2803 by a fraction, the numerator of which is the number of days during the year that the medical transportation provider operated and the denominator of which is three hundred sixty-five (365).

(2) Immediately upon ceasing to operate, the medical transportation provider shall pay the adjusted assessment for that state fiscal year to the extent not previously paid.

(e) A medical transportation provider subject to an assessment under this subchapter that has not been previously licensed as a medical transportation provider in Arkansas and that commences medical transportation operations during a state fiscal year shall pay the required assessment computed under § 20-77-2803 and shall be eligible for emergency medical transportation access payments under § 20-77-2809 on the date specified in rules promulgated by the division under the Arkansas Administrative Procedure Act, § 25-15-201 et seq.

(f) A medical transportation provider that is exempted from payment of the assessment under § 20-77-2806 at the beginning of a state fiscal year but during the state fiscal year experiences a change in status so that it becomes subject to the assessment shall pay the required assessment computed under § 20-77-2803 and shall be eligible for emergency medical transportation access payments under § 20-77-2809 on the date specified in rules promulgated by the division under the Arkansas Administrative Procedure Act, § 25-15-201 et seq.

(g) A medical transportation provider that is subject to payment of the assessment computed under § 20-77-2803 at the beginning of a state fiscal year but during the state fiscal year experiences a change in status so that it becomes exempted from payment under § 20-77-2806 shall be relieved of its obligation to pay the medical transportation provider assessment and shall become ineligible for emergency medical transportation access payments under § 20-77-2809 on the date specified in rules promulgated by the division under the Arkansas Administrative Procedure Act, § 25-15-201 et seq.