Air ambulance, and the bill afterwards

MikeD

MikeD

Administrator
Staff member
$35,000 for a 37 mile transport flight. I hope Air Methods posts some profit sharing for the $108M in profits they made. :)

Many many times where air ambulances are needed and critical. I've also seen many times where they've been dispatched on calls that weren't critical and were moreso convenient. Combined with the overall safety issues HEMS has been having, the whole system is in an interesting situation.

The helicopter ambulance that rushed Shauna Laswell to a Las Vegas hospital after a heart attack may have saved her life. But when she got the air ambulance bill, she says she “almost had another heart attack.”

It was $46,800 for an 85-mile flight. And after insurance she now owes almost $39,000.
It wasn’t a billing mistake. Nor was the $35,000 bill Jean Medina got when her teenage daughter was airlifted 37 miles after complications from a tonsillectomy.

“The surgery itself was a total of $16,000 and the helicopter’s nearly $35,000.

Swartz said Air Methods' reputation as aggressive in setting prices and collecting bills grows out of their need to make profits for their stockholders.

“You raise the price as high as you can, as fast as you can. And you try to collect as much as you can and you use whatever tactics you have to,” said Swartz.

Air Methods requires patients or their families to sign a consent form which, in small print, makes them “personally and fully responsible” for any amount not covered by insurance.

“They said, ‘Don’t worry about it. It’s just a standard form, just to give us permission to transport your daughter,’” recalled Warren Larson.

Nowhere on the form is there any disclosure of the estimated cost of the flight.

The Air Methods vice president said he did not know why there was no disclosure of the price on the consent form but promised to ask his superiors at headquarters.

“It’s a question I can ask,” Webster said.
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http://abcnews.go.com/US/sky-rage-bills-debt-lawsuits-follow-helicopter-medevac/story?id=37669153
 
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NickH said:
I've been dispatched for cut finger. The corruption level in the IHS system is high.
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I've seen many times a helo has been dispatched for someone we've rescued with out own helo off of a ridge or mountain, who may be injured but is hardly critical. They wait for us to complete a rescue and fly down to the LZ they're waiting at to transload to them, when in that time a ground ambo could've arrived to transport. For any airlift to a hospital, we don't transport with our helos for a variety of reasons unless an exigent circumstance or our own personnel, so there's really no choice for transport. The overall situation is definitely messy in a number of ways when it comes to air ambulance, I agree.
 
Until they get this out from under Deregulation or turn the bills for truly medically UNnecessary flights back to the referring entity (hospital, EMS), it'll keep happening.
 
Yep..like you guys, I flown everything from super critical to a hang nail, with the majority being of the hang nail classification lol..a lot of the times it seemed that the ambulance folks either didn't want to make the run out of town, and/or didn't have the extra manpower to do so...either way, we ended up making tons of expensive ans unnecessary flights.
 
This is getting so bad, I used to work in a large area where the City and County Fire Dept (500,00+ population) REFUSED to use HEMS.. In many areas of the county, the difference in ground vs air could be as much as 30min. Unless specifically requested by name by the injured person, they will not call the local HEMS. They state that it is to protect the injured from large bills.
Sad state of affairs that HEMS owners have created.
 
The world is changing ...

Used to be medevac was used only when requested by EMS on scene. These days, in my jurisdiction and surrounding areas, protocol dictates a standby or launch based simply upon the EMD'd nature of call, generally focused on mechanism of injury, even while tones are being dropped for an initial EMS response, and long before the first qualified EMS responder is on-scene to evaluate a possible need.

Although we often cancel the ground standby, or enroute response, I would imagine the associated costs have to be recouped in someway for a medevac company to remain viable.

Those of us who respond on the ground (or do the dispatching) see the wasted resource and generally dislike it. Unfortunately, it HAS become the accepted standard of care within our broad geographic area.
 
MikeD said:
$35,000 for a 37 mile transport flight. I hope Air Methods posts some profit sharing for the $108M in profits they made. :)

Many many times where air ambulances are needed and critical. I've also seen many times where they've been dispatched on calls that weren't critical and were moreso convenient. Combined with the overall safety issues HEMS has been having, the whole system is in an interesting situation.



http://abcnews.go.com/US/sky-rage-bills-debt-lawsuits-follow-helicopter-medevac/story?id=37669153
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Seems to me you're not paying for a 37 mile flight. You're paying to have a multi-million dollar aircraft, flight, and medical crew available 24/7/365 to fly that 37 mile flight. You're also paying for all those people who use the service, but never pay a dime.
 
Flying Saluki said:
Seems to me you're not paying for a 37 mile flight. You're paying to have a multi-million dollar aircraft, flight, and medical crew available 24/7/365 to fly that 37 mile flight. You're also paying for all those people who use the service, but never pay a dime.
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Area 5150 said:
I remember my days of flying EMS. 4 grand just to lift off the pad. Boom.
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Agreed on both. Hence why many of these companies seem to run on the cheap with equipment/aircraft, etc. The problem goes round and round.
 
Not sure of the specifics but recall visiting friends in Germany a few years ago. A helicopter with doctor AND flight nurse were routinely first-dispatched to motor vehicle accidents, along with fire and ground EMS (Weissach area, near Stuttgart). They treated and transported. The mostly-red and white choppers were a frequent sight during our stay.
 
RDoug said:
Seems to me that if I'm being charged for a service I did not receive, but someone else did, then I'm being robbed.
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That's the basic premise of all insurance, particularly Obamacare.

You and 100 other people are overcharged for basic medical care, and one 28 week premie gets to live a full and productive life.
 
USMCmech said:
That's the basic premise of all insurance, particularly Obamacare.

You and 100 other people are overcharged for basic medical care, and one 28 week premie gets to live a full and productive life.
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Ehh ... I'm kinda' OK with the kid living, honestly. The alternative sucks and I haven't missed the few extra dollars over six decades (plus) of living - at least not so far.

Maybe the kid will get an education and cure cancer. Maybe he'll just smoke dope and play video games. Doesn't matter much to me. Life is life.

Of course, I'm the type who will pick a worm from a puddle and throw it into the grass ...
 
USMCmech said:
That's the basic premise of all insurance, particularly Obamacare.

You and 100 other people are overcharged for basic medical care, and one 28 week premie gets to live a full and productive life.
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See, that I'm on board with. Extending the life of an 89 year old in constant pain by a week? Maybe not the best use of our resources. And what we spend on treating diabetes and obesity in people who live on junk food and soda....
 
Roger Roger said:
See, that I'm on board with. Extending the life of an 89 year old in constant pain by a week? Maybe not the best use of our resources. And what we spend on treating diabetes and obesity in people who live on junk food and soda....
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Does the 89 year old in pain want to live that week? I say let her (or him), if so. They almost certainly contributed SOMETHING to a son/daughter/sibling/parent/friend/neighbor/community/pet/culture/business ... to life ... during those nearly nine decades.

It isn't just a financial decision about "the best use of our resources."

Smokers ... fat people ... diabetics ... alcoholics; life is still ... well ... LIFE. No one has to pass a test to live. No one has to be like you, or me, in order to earn the privilege. It passes quickly, and inevitably, for all of us.

Jesus Christ, really? Let the old fart in pain enjoy their great grandkid for another week, if they want. What's that extra few bucks honestly gonna' cost you over the years of your lifetime - a few Starbucks coffees or a couple dinners out?

"Damn," said the old (but, fortunately, still productive) guy.
 
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