Ambulance transport services update
The Logan County Commissioners got an update on transport services for patients from Sterling Regional Medcenter during their work session Tuesday.
Brian Sager spoke on behalf of Banner Health, explaining that the Medevac helicopter based in Sterling is the primary method of transporting any Advanced Life Support (ALS) or critical care patient to other facilities — even in situations that are not considered immediately life-threatening — largely due to the time and distance involved.
“It really revolves around resources within all the area,” he said.
There are few other services available in the region, namely Morgan County EMS, Washington County and Holyoke, and it’s rare for them to have the manpower to come do a transport from Sterling to Greeley, Sager said.
Ground transport is used if the helicopter is out of service, generally due to inclement weather conditions. When a patient is transported by ambulance, Sager said the driver is certified through SRM, and the helicopter clinicians staff the back to provide care for the patient.
Commissioner Mike Brownell said he’s heard concerns from constituents about the added cost of taking the helicopter. He shared an example of a friend who suffered a hand injury in an accident with power tools and was transported to Denver by air on the advice of a doctor, but ended up waiting in the emergency room and didn’t have surgery until the next day. His insurance company has denied coverage for the trip.
“It’s an expensive proposition,” Brownell said. “If you need to be flown, that’s one thing, but if you don’t…”
Sager said that air ambulance service falls under the purview of the No Surprise Billing Act. While he admitted he was uncertain of how the process works, he said his understanding is that if a claim is denied, the provider and insurance company are sent to arbitration and whatever portion is not covered the patient would not be responsible for it. He said he could share contact information for others within the Banner Health system who would be more knowledgeable about the process.
“The ‘take home message’ about the extra cost is that the No
Surprise Billing Act comes into play,” Sager said.
Banner Health is looking add ground transport for rare occasions when they have to take a patient to Brush for tests or screenings, such as when the CT equipment in Sterling goes down. In those instances, they’d like to be able to use a driver and nurse from SRM to do the transport, rather than the helicopter crew, so they don’t tie up those critical care resources. That change may require an amendment to the contract with the county to provide those services, and Sager said he’d like to address that before new state regulations take effect on May 1, as that will make adopting the changes easier.
Sager also expressed hope that a new paramedic program at Northeastern Junior College could in time mean more emergency medical resources are available in the region, which could result in SRM putting together a ground transport ambulance service, but he said that that would be a long-term, and expensive, proposition.
Banner Health received two ambulances from Logan County when they first contracted to provide transport services. One of those ambulances is housed in the hangar at Sterling Municipal Airport where the Medevac helicopter is based to keep it out of the elements. The second ambulance is currently on loan to a Banner Health hospital in Wyoming that needed an ambulance due to supply shortages coming out of COVID-19. That hospital recently received its new ambulance and will return the Logan County vehicle once the new one is in service.