|
 | |||
| Lopez Island | Orcas Island | Visitor's Guide | ||
| Email this page to a friend | ||
| ||||||||||||||||||
SAN JUAN COUNTY |
Related pages | |
|
Extra Airlift Northwest service this summerposted 06/21/2007Airlift Northwest will base one of it helicopters at the Friday Harbor airport this summer to expedite emergency services for residents and visitors in the San Juan Islands. The helicopter will be at the airport during the day on alternating weekends. "This move allows us to provide service more quickly during a busy time of year," says Airlift Northwest Regional Manager Jeff Richey. "The summer months bring more visitors to the islands and the need for more emergency services. By basing a helicopter at Friday Harbor, we will be able to shorten response times not only to Friday Harbor, but to all the islands as well." "We experience increased need for air medical transportation during the busy summer season," said San Juan Island EMS Chief Jim Cole. "We appreciate Airlift Northwest recognizing this need. This is a very positive relationship that provides superior service for people on the islands who experience a critical medical or traumatic emergency." Airlift nurses and pilots will stay at the San Juan Island EMS crew quarters which are just minutes from the Friday Harbor helipad. This local positioning of the crew and aircraft will significantly shorten the time required for the helicopter to reach a patient in the San Juan Islands. Cole explained that San Juan Island EMS, or the EMS teams on Orcas, Lopez and other islands, will continue to bring patients to an airport to meet the ALNW helicopter. The Airlift Northwest helicopter will be in Friday Harbor on the following dates: July 4, 6-8, July 27-29, Aug. 10-12, Aug. 17-19, Aug. 31-Sept. 2, and Sept. 15-16. It will arrive at 9:45 am and depart for its Bellingham base at 6:00 pm each day. The attached map provides the flight times between the islands and Airlift Northwest bases in both Bellingham and Arlington. As an additional service, Airlift Northwest operates a membership program that is available to people on the islands. Under that program, called AirCare, when Airlift Northwest is requested by a medical facility or an emergency response team to fly a critically ill or injured patient to appropriate medical care, the portion of the Airlift Northwest bill that isn’t covered by insurance or Medicare is paid through the membership. A membership in AirCare is $79 a year and covers all members of a household. Information is available on-line at www.airliftnw.org or by calling 888-835-1599. 600 islanders have purchased Airlift subscriptionsposted 01/19/2007
Airlift has also received a donation from an islander who purchased a subscription to go to a needy family, Cole told the Hospital District Board at its monthly meeting Jan. 17. Others wanting to purchase subscriptions as donations can contact Airlift Northwest. SJEMS will select the families who will receive the subscriptions. Details about the subscription plans are available on their Web site. Download the AirCare brochure for complete details and an enrollment form. You may also visit the AirCare frequently asked questions page to find answers to your membership questions. Airlift subscriptions back and at lower cost - $79PRESS RELEASE: The much anticipated medical helicopter subscription is now here. The $79 annual membership fee will shield you and your household from out-of-pocket costs for Airlift Northwest air medical services that may not be covered by insurance. Airlift Northwest will bill the insurance carrier (if any), and other payers, and accept their payment as your payment in full for their services. Details are available on their Web site. Download the AirCare brochure for complete details and an enrollment form. You may also visit the AirCare frequently asked questions page to find answers to your membership questions. For customer service or more information, please call, e-mail or write to:
Air ambulance bill passes SenateA bill to allow subscription air ambulance services will be allowed in Washington, thanks to the passage of Senate Bill 6231, sponsored by Sen. Harriet Spanel (D-40th Legislative District). This measure would exempt private air ambulance services that provide membership subscription services from certain guidelines that apply to insurers. It passed the Senate unanimously Feb, 3, 2006. "Many people do have insurance, but if they do need to use an air ambulance, it is still very costly," Spanel said. "This bill enables subscription air ambulance services to be established, while keeping consumer protections in place." Families who have needed to rely on a helicopter airlift in a medical emergency know that a single use of this service can cost thousands of dollars, even if they have insurance. For those on the mainland, there are less costly ambulance options. But island and remote-area residents, such as those living in the San Juans, may need helicopter ambulance services to seek emergency medical care. Last session, Spanel sponsored legislation to allow helicopter ambulance vendors to set up a subscription service system. Because of concerns from the Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC), that bill was changed to require the OIC to examine whether air ambulance service should be regulated as "insurers" if they offered this service. Spanel's new bill is the result of work done by the OIC, representatives of counties, service providers and citizens. House Bill 2615 sponsored by Rep. Dave Quall (D-40th district), Rep. Jeff Morris (D-40th district) and Rep. Judy Clibborn, (D-41st district) passed in the state House of Representatives. Some progress made toward medevac subscriptionsposted 04/12/05
John Evans helped lead the effort to allow islanders to purchase subscriptions for air ambulance services. The service was available in the past, but was stopped when the state Office of Insurance ruled the practice was not allowed under state law. County trying to recreate medevac insurance programBy Sharon Kivisto posted 07/17/03
Stephen Omta, Regional Vice President of Operations and COO of St. Joseph's Hospital explained why "the genie can’t be put back into the bottle." The program was run through the hospital for years until the cumulative effect of new rules led to its demise. At first it was a subscription service, which broke even every year and even benefitted the hospital in some years, according to Omta. "In the early 90s we received a cease and desist order. We were told it was an insurance program not a subscription service." Omta said. At the time, St. Joe's was able to continue offering the plan by creating an insurance product. The hospital was able to do this because of its relationship with the helicopter service and because the hospital had access to an insurance license. "We were committed to maintaining the relationship with the islands," he said. Then Medicare rules designed to protect consumers from insurance scams came into effect. "Our legal counsel said it was too gray," said Omta. He said he has given the situation a lot of thought. "It is not something we can reinitiate. The laws don’t support it," he said. "I've tried to figure out how you could work the rules. You need to be able to have a subscription program that is a secondary payer to any other payer. All the fund was in a position to do was pay any residual costs (after the person's medical insurance coverage). I am not aware of any set of laws that says you can do that." San Juan County Medical Health Director Dr. Frank James said, " This guy is a saint, if Stephen is saying the old system won’t work, it won’t work." Evans asked if Airlift Northwest, which is a separate entity, could provide its own medevac insurance program. Toni Long, executive vice president of finance and administration for Airlift Northwest said, "It will be several years before we will feel financially stable enough to take on such a program. To have a reserve set aside just for that is problematic." Department of Insurance Commissioner (OIC) William Daley said it might be possible for the county to provide some kind of program itself. "The underlying priniciple of insurance law is to try to guarantee that when it comes to claiming, there is money to pay for the claims. The same priniciple applies to self insurance. It would require a financial reserve. We're talking about a minimum reserve of $300,000 for limited services," he said. OIC Senior Policy Analyst Lisa Smego estimated the reserve would be $1.4 million based on 200 flights per year. "If you want to insure services for county residents, it might be a better option for the county to have standby aircraft service available." she told Evans. (San Juan County Hospital District No. 1 which runs Inter Island Medical Center has contracted with Island Air to provide fixed wing service. The transport is used for patients requiring basic life support and cannot be used for advanced life support service.) Evans said, "We aren’t going to have a plane standing by with EMTs." He asked the representatives from the OIC for a template a non-profit agency could use to offer a medevac insurance program. "You need to give us an insurance product we can fit into," he said. "We can probably figure out how to come up with the reserve." He suggested a consortium of fire districts, the hospital district and medical guilds could run the program. Orcas Fire Chief Gary Bennett said his department would participate in the discussions but added "we have our own alligators in our own swamps." He suggested the county look at what is available in the private sector. Daley said, "If you can deal with the reserve, we can come up with a model." He said OIC "will do anything we can within the law to try to help solve this problem." Smego said the first step would be to determine the costs and the number of flights. Long said while the actual costs of the flights were $8,000 to St. Joes and $11,000 to Children's Hospital, the out-of-pocket costs to patients vary. "Take a look at your insurance policy to see what type of coverage it has," she said. "You may not be looking at covering a huge amount of additional costs." She noted Airlift Northwest does have programs for charity cases and also provides payment plans. Daley said, "We will do what we can to help. We know if a community is determined to solve a problem it will do it. We hope you succeed. We don’t mean to be a barrier, we want to be part of the solution." Evans agreed to head up a committee to continue to work on the problem. Medevac costs to soarposted 11/02/01
Members of the medflight program received letters this week informing them of the demise of the program and placing the blame on federal regulations. The letter from Stephen Omta, COO of St. Joseph Hospital stated:"If we were to meet the new federal reguirements, we would be out of compliance with state insurance regulations. We have worked through legal channels for nearly a year to find a way to continue this program, which has been the only one of its kind in Washington state." Last year 28 percent of the 1,226 emergency calls in San Juan County resulted in patients being transported to the mainland. 340 patients were transported via helicopter, 53 were transported by ferry and 21 by fixed-wing aircraft. Airlift Northwest took over the helicopter transport in mid-2000 after Medflight which had operated for 15 years was unable to continue due to financial considerations. Airlift Northwest, which primarily carries critically ill or injured patients, is a not-for-profit operation funded by a consortium of hospitals. Five are in the Seattle area and one is in Juneau, Alaska. Friday Harbor Town Councilmembers discussed the demise of the $100 program during their town council meeting Thursday, Nov. 1. Councilwoman Vonda Sheiman suggested the council ask the federal elected officials to help get the program reinstated. She noted many medical insurance companies do not fully cover the $4,000 cost of a flight. Her family paid more than $600 for a recent Airlift flight. People with no insurance are even harder hit she said. "This has huge widespread implications in the islands," said Mayor Gary Boothman. The council will send a letter to U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and Rep. Rick Larsen. Meanwhile the current program is accepting renewals through Nov. 30, 2001 but any checks received after that date will be returned uncashed. The program ends Sept. 30, 2002. Pro-rated refund checks will be issued for any contracts which extend past that date. Medflight replaced in the San Juan Islandsposted 06/30/00
St. Joseph Hospital has contracted with Airlift Northwest (ALNW) of Seattle to provide air ambulance services to areas now covered by the hospital’s Medflight service. The transition will begin July 8 and be completed by September 1, 2000. The HealthGuard Air Ambulance Contract (MedFlight membership program) will be kept in place as a way for people to guarantee no out-of-pocket expense for medical air transport. The hospital will collaborate with ALNW as a way to ensure that costly new state requirements can be met, and to reduce the annual financial subsidy to the program. Through collaboration with ALNW, the overhead costs of an air medical service for Northwest Washington can be spread over a far higher number of flights, said Becker. "We were facing a loss of at least $500,000 per year if we were to have continued operating the program on our own," said Cindie Becker, Vice President for Patient Care Services. ALNW will base a helicopter and crew at St. Joseph Hospital’s Main Campus. Service to emergency patients will not change. St. Joseph Hospital will continue to bill patients for transport, and will pay ALNW a fee for flights that bring patients to the Main Campus. The hospital will end its lease with Metro Aviation of Shreveport, Louisiana, which provides the MedFlight helicopter, pilot and mechanic. "For 15 years MedFlight has brought a flying intensive care unit and staff to emergency scenes throughout the four northwestern counties of Washington," said Becker. "Our flight staff have turned in top performances." "Airlift Northwest operates an excellent service to the northwestern states and we are very pleased that our communities will be served by a program of their quality." Airlift Northwest may rescue MedFlightBy Matt Pranger posted 05/00
Toni Long, an Airlift Northwest administrator, during a May 1 interview, said the two organizations are in "serious discussions." San Juan Island emergency medical workers have heard rumors the deal may be complete by the end of the month. "We don’t have a signed agreement yet. There could be one as soon as the middle of next month," said Long, Airlift Northwest’s associate director for finance and administration. A St. Joseph spokeswoman said the talks were in "the discussion stage" and more information would be provided "when there was something concrete." If a deal is completed, an Airlift Northwest helicopter would be based at St. Joseph, Long said. The 15-year-old MedFlight operation, like many independent air ambulance services, is not profitable. "The reason the hospital is looking at it is the financial viability of the program," Long said. "I think there are some financial problems and it takes big organizations to run these things," said Frank Wilson, San Juan Aid director. Healthcare administrators in the San Juan Islands have heard rumors of the takeover but have not been consulted by St. Joseph or Airlift Northwest, Wilson said. San Juan County accounts for more than 50 percent of MedFlight’s service. Of the 350 flights per year the air ambulance makes, 200 of them are to San Juan County. That’s more than Island, Skagit and Whatcom counties’ annual responses combined. When asked how islanders might be affected by the deal, Wilson said: "Hopefully it doesn’t mean anything." Islanders’ cost to be transported by an air ambulance probably won’t change if Airlift Northwest becomes the area’s provider. MedFlight operates by subscription: Families pay $100 per year for coverage. "It’s my understanding that St. Joe’s will continue that program," Long said. Patients who are not subscribers nor covered by insurance can pay $3,000 to $4,000 for a medevac. Airlift Northwest, which primarily carries critically ill or injured patients, is a not-for-profit operation funded by a consortium of hospitals, five of the Seattle area and one in Juneau, Alaska. Airlift Northwest bills consortium members, who in turn bill insurance companies or uninsured or under-insured patients. The average Airlift Northwest trip costs more than $4,000, Long said. A switch to Airlift Northwest could benefit islanders during adverse weather. Airlift Northwest uses twin-engine helicopters approved for instrument flying. MedFlight utilizes single-engine helicopter limited to visual flight rules. Airlift Northwest and MedFlight operate slightly different medical crews. Airlift Northwest flies with two emergency room nurses while MedFlight carries a paramedic and a nurse. MedFlight has 12 registered nurses and six paramedics. Airlift Northwest employs 60 people. Both organizations contract pilots and mechanics. If Airlift Northwest takes over MedFlight workers will be encouraged to apply. "We hope that some of their staff will continue with us," Long said. Three Airlift Northwest helicopters operate from bases in Arlington, Puyallup and Seattle. They make more than 2,200 trips a year. The firm also has four fixed-wing aircraft, and since 1982 has transported more than 28,000 patients in Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Montana and Western Canada. |
|
|
SAN JUAN ISLANDER © 2010 |
|