Regular Membership Meeting March 20, 2000
STATCARE Just for Kids Transport Team, Louisville, Kentucky

Unapproved minutes posted for review

 

Officers Present:

Jodie Hignite, President 
Rick Nickoson, President Elect 
Rick McKinstry, Secretary

Members Present: 

John Blumenstock 
Kim Phelps 
Dennis Kiper 
John Hultgren 
Rockey Johnson

Guests Present:

Mike Wheatley

Programs Represented: 

Angel Wings 
STATCARE Just for Kids 
STATCARE

Call to Order 

The Secretary determined a quorum was present and President Jodie Hignite called the meeting to order at 7:01 pm.

Reading of the Minutes 

Copies of the Minutes of the KyAAMS regular meeting held on November 15, 1999 hosted by CareFlight in Lexington, Kentucky were distributed and read by all present. The minutes were approved without correction.

Welcome to New Officers 

Jodie welcomed Rick Nickoson, recently elected KyAAMS President elect and Walter Middleton, treasurer.

OLD BUSINESS

• KyAAMS Tee Shirt
  Air-Evac sent via email pictures of their aircraft to Jodie but they are in a file format that can't be displayed by her email program. Jodie will contact Charlie O'Neal with Air-Evac to ask that the pictures be sent in .jpg format. Jodie showed the group several sample tee shirts with various logos sent from a company in Arkansas. This company does not charge a setup fee or require a minimum order. Those present agreed that that quality of work was very good and detailed. Several suggestions for the tee shirt design were offered by the group. Jodie will finalize a design soon.
• KyAAMS Newsletter 
  Paul Skaggs, KyAAMS newsletter editor, is contacting the representatives that were appointed from each member program that are to submit articles: Just for Kids - Dennis Kiper, STATCARE - Paul Skaggs, CareFlight - Mike Orr, UK Air Medical - Steve Talbert. The first issue will feature profiles of members as well as a case scenario to outline appropriate medical management.
• Air Ambulance Regulations Subcommittee 
  Jodie Hignite went to Frankfort 2/14/2000 to represent KyAAMS. The air ambulance regulations were presented to the EMS subcommittee. The regulations were approved by this subcommittee and will now be presented to the EMS council.
  • One addition to the regulations was requested by Bob Calhoun to add a section that requires that each air medical service have a common approved dataset so the state can get the same statistical information from each organization's records. A dataset containing approximately 102 pieces of information has already been established and is compatible with the current run forms used by the helicopter services in Kentucky.
• Air Medical Memorial Wings 
  Cathy Spry has found a new manufacturer that will make the wings for $1 less while maintaining the same quality. The company is due to ship out 1000 wings April 12th .
  • To date, proceeds from the sale of memorial wings has raised $1200 for the National AAMS Safety fund and $600 for the ASTNA Bereavement Fund, totaling $1800. $600 of the proceeds were raised form the sale of memorial wings at the AMTC in Nashville, IN. $600 in matching funds were donated by both Corporate Jets, Inc. and Rocky Mountain Helicopters to make the $1800 total. KyAAMS has not made any profit from the sale of memorial wings. All proceeds after cost have gone to these funds.
  • KyAAMS, Rocky Mountain Helicopters and Corporate Jets, Inc. will be acknowledged in the next "Across the Board" ASTNA newsletter for their contribution to these funds.
  • Cathy Spry (STATCARE) and Mo Nethery (CareFlight) were instrumental in developing the wings that honor our colleagues that have been injured, or have died, as the result of an air medical accident. Jodie noted that the memorial wings have been welcomed by most air medical programs nationwide resulting in KyAAMS being recognized on a national level.
• KyAAMS Membership 2000 
  Current active KyAAMS membership count so far this year is 43. There are 24 former (1999) members who have not renewed their membership. Some of these former members are no longer involved in the air medical industry, but many are - yet have not renewed. Those present discussed possible reasons they have not renewed and offered ideas that may encourage membership.
  • It was agreed that getting the KyAAMS newsletter out would increase the visibility of the organization and may encourage membership - which will certainly be one goal of the newsletter. It was suggested that the newsletter outline the "Top 10 reasons to join KyAAMS" patterned after a similar list by ASTNA. Associate membership from ground transport services members will be encouraged. The membership section of the newsletter could offer a chance in a drawing for reference books or a gift certificate to new members or renewals. All these ideas will be submitted to Paul Skaggs, newsletter editor. A goal was set to have the newsletter published by the next meeting.
  • More convenient methods of paying membership dues were discussed. One idea was to ask member programs to support payroll deduction of KyAAMS dues. Any STATCARE employee may take advantage of this method now. Dennis Kiper offered to process dues payments submitted by credit card for KyAAMS.
  • Last month Rick McKinstry (secretary) sent email to those members who have not renewed encouraging them to do so. Some of these members did renew. Jodie Hignite (president) will write a letter to the former members asking for their continued support and participation in the organization.
  • To encourage participation and communication with ground transport services in Kentucky, Rockey Johnson suggested inviting a representative from different agencies to attend the KyAAMS meetings as a guest. Rockey will give a list of representatives from various Kentucky ground transport agencies to Jodie Hignite who will try invite someone to our next meeting.
  • KyAAMS Meeting Location Rotation Schedule Setting the meeting rotation schedule will be tabled until the next meeting to give Jodie a chance to speak with member program directors.

NEW BUSINESS

• Be wary of secretive company offering "Safety Assessment" Jodie reports that a person who did not identify themselves other that with the email address: holbert710@aol.com has contacted ASTNA, AMPA, AAMS asking for lists of organizations he may contact to offer a service called "Safety Assessment" which claims to evaluate air medical services for safety issues. David Kearns, president of ASTNA has been unable to confirm the identity or background credentials and therefore the credibility of this company. Mr. Kearns has written them a letter refusing to recommend this company to any air medical program. This company has heavily promoted itself to flight services in Texas in the wake of the air medical crash in Amarillo, Texas. It appears this may be a opportunistic business venture started to take advantage of the recent tragic situations in air medical industry.
• Mid Year Conference John Blumenstock reported some issues discussed at the AAMS mid year conference in March 15 - 18, 2000 in Alexandria, VA.
  • Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) issues impacting the air ambulance industry: The Balanced Budget act of 1997 requires HCFA to develop a fee schedule for Medicare ambulance reimbursement using negotiated rulemaking. That process is now complete and the proposed rule defining the new Fee Schedule should be published later this spring. AAMS participated in and endorsed the Consensus Statement that was developed by this committee. Following are key elements of the Consensus Statement: - HCFA will set air ambulance rates based on a range for the reimbursement pool between $134.8 and $158 million. - The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 mandates that all providers must accept assignment. - Some relief was provided for rural ambulance providers in the form of a Rural Modifier.
  • FAA's Flight and Duty Time Policy may affect Air Ambulances: The FAA recently proposed to treat "reserve time" as scheduled duty. This change would have a negative impact on air medical transport, particularly at rural locations, where the comparatively low frequency of operations cannot support significantly greater staffing requirements. In these locations, implementation of FAA's proposal will cause service cuts and, in some cases, the elimination of programs.
  • FAA proposals for changing heliport design. The proposed changes would have shut down most hospital helipads in Kentucky.
  • The FAA is very concerned about the air medical industry and is asking AAMS what they are doing about it. The FAA is directing their offices to inspect every air ambulance program in the nation as soon as possible to look at the pilots, training, maintenance records, etc. We all can expect this to happen very soon. AAMS may hold another national safety conference similar to the one held a few years ago.
  • All ambulance providers must have a Corporate Compliance program in place.
  • National EMS Memorial KyAAMS will contribute $500 to the National EMS Memorial held on May 27th in Roanoke, VA. where the National EMS memorial is located. KyAAMS will be listed in the program. The UK Air Medical crew will be inducted at the memorial service. Six EMS providers from KY will be inducted this year - 4 from the UK Air Medical crew.
  • Rockey Johnson related plans to hold a Kentucky EMS Memorial service in Frankfort, KY., date not yet determined - as well a plan to establish a permanent memorial site for KY EMS providers in Frankfort. Representation from organizations supporting the establishment of the memorial has been requested to be on a board that will oversee the process. KyAAMS has been asked to consider participating.

Adjournment 

There being no further business, Jodie Hignite adjourned the meeting at 8:27 p.m.

NEXT MEETING: May 15, 2000 at 7:00 p.m. E.D.T. Hosted by UK Air Medical Service in Lexington, Kentucky.