Rocky Mountain Holdings, LLC

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. They should have provide an itemized bill to begin with, which they initially refused to do. 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Re: complaint ID: [redacted] Dear [redacted],Our office is in receipt of correspondence from your office dated December 2, 2015 regarding a complaint submitted by [redacted], a former patient of ours who received air ambulance services on September 15, 2015. We are pleased to report that [redacted]...

[redacted]'s insurer, BCBS GA remitted payment in full for our services on December 8, 2015. A zero balance statement of account was mailed to [redacted] on December 15,2015 for his records.We are proud to have provided emergency air ambulance services to [redacted]. Feel free to contact our office again should we be of any further assistance at [redacted].Thank you,[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: It didn't answer the complaint.  The response addresses payment.  Of course this was paid.  This is not the complaint.  The complaint was being charged an excessive amount for a service to someone in a vulnerable position.  The company fails to provide a breakdown of cost of service.  Charging someone $35,772.90 for a 9 minute flight is excessive regardless.  I am requesting the company disclose its method for calculating a flight charge this excessive.  Although not relevant to the conversation, but calling me a "patient" is extremely problematic as no medical care was provided.  Therefore, I was NOT their patient.This company exploits vulnerable conditions in which individuals are forced to pay for an extremely high cost service without the disclosure of costs.  The company threatens payment even when it has been resolved.To summarize,I am requesting a refund on a majority of the money provided to be returned.  The cost of service was never requested.  The cost of the service was excessive and exploited an individual in a vulnerable state.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Please see attached document for response to complaint.

[redacted]:   Attached please find our response to the Revdex.com complaint filed by [redacted].   Thank you.   [redacted]
 
[redacted]
 
[redacted]...

[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:They are stating they need more information and can not locate the file. My daughters name is [redacted], her date of birth is [redacted] and the date of service is [redacted]. They reciently submitted the account to collects, that's why I initiated the complaint. 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Ref complaint ID: [redacted]Dear [redacted],Our office is in receipt of correspondence from your office dated October 16, 2015 involving a complaint received in your office from a [redacted]. [redacted] indicates he received a bill from our company for services he did not receive. In a...

complete review of our system, we do not find any record of an account or open balance for [redacted]. We are happy to review any documentation [redacted] received and investigate this further.Feel free to contact our office again at [redacted], should you have questions.Thank you,[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
Air Methods recently sent me another document with some unfair language in it.
I will have to see how it unfolds.
BTW, Air Methods arrived 3 hours later than the time they promised. We could have easily transport the baby using a car ambulance.
Also, the insurance info was added on the day that baby was transported and I called Air Methods in approximately 1 month later to provide the insurance info. Other hospitals provided the insurance info between those time didn't have any trouble getting money from the insurance company.
I do not quite understand why only Air Methods had trouble.
Until Air Methods receive money from BCBS and stop sending me the bills, I would like to have this complain open and not resolved.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

I am the policy holder for her primary, her secondary is medical assistance so she is the main holder and I am the guardian.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 12, 2015/07/14) */
From: [redacted] (mailto:[redacted]@airmethods.com)
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, XXXX X:XX PM
To: [redacted]
Subject: CID# [redacted] - [redacted]
Ms. [redacted]
Thank you for your e-mail last week. As follow-up to my...

voice-mail message, I believe there must be some confusion or misplacement of our response. I show we submitted our response via fax on June 26, 2015. I've attached a clean copy of our response to include fax confirmations for our faxed response to both your office and the Kentucky Revdex.com, as Mr. [redacted] also filed a completed there.
Feel free to contact me again should you need anything additional.

[redacted] M. [redacted] Senior Paralegal
[redacted] San Bernardino, CA XXXXX
O: (XXX) XXX-XXXX F (XXX) XXX-XXXX
[redacted]@airmethods.com airmethods.com facebook
Documents scanned
June 26, 2015
Via Fax: (303) [redacted]
Revdex.com Denver. Boulder [redacted] E. [redacted] Denver, CO XXXXX
Re: Case # 75256078: [redacted]
Dear Ms. [redacted]
This letter is submitted on behalf of Rocky Mountain Holdings, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air Methods Corporation (together, “Air Methods”), in response to your letter dated June 15, 2015 regarding a complaint filed by Mr. [redacted] (the “Complaint”), the father of a former patient of ours, [redacted], who received emergency medical transport services from Air Methods on August 6, 2014 (the “Patient”).
Background
To provide you with some background on the services provided to this Patient and her account with Air Methods, the Patient received inter-facility transport services by Air Methods on August 6, 2015 from [redacted] Hospital in Owensboro, Kentucky to [redacted] Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. Air Methods provided the transport of the Patient at the request of [redacted] Hospital. The billed charges for the emergency services provided by Air Methods for this particular Patient transport are in the amount of $47,088.16, which include a $25,691.80 base liftoff fee and total mileage fee of $21,396.26 for this seventy nine (79) mile flight. The Patient’s insurer [redacted] issued a payment in the amount of $14,866.00 on December 30, 2014 leaving a balance of $32,122.16 as patient responsibility.
Medical Necessity of the Emergency Services
As with all inter-facility transpons, Air Methods is not the party determining whether ground or air transport is the most appropriate means of transport for the patient. Rather, it is the responsibility of the treating medical physician. In this case, it was Dr. [redacted] from the trauma bay at [redacted] Hospital who determined rapid air medical transport was medically necessary based on the a skull fracture the Patient sustained from an ATV injury. Dr. [redacted] made this determination based on the following criteria: (1) transport is time critical in order to minimize morbidity/mortality; (2) The patient’s condition met established criteria for transport based on published standards for appropriate utilization of air transport from EMS,
[redacted] S. [redacted] CO XXXXX/WWW.AIRMETHODS.COM
cardiac, trauma, pediatric, or neonatal communities; (3) during transport the Patient’s condition required critical care life support and monitoring by an Advanced Life Support medical staff including a Registered Nurse; and (4) the receiving facility provided specialized care, treatment, and diagnosis not available at the referring facility, specifically Pediatric Surgery Unit.
At the time of transport, the nurses and paramedics focus solely on the emergency medical care they are providing to the patient and not whether or how a patient can pay for the air medical transport. Indeed, we are prohibited from screening for insurance eligibility prior to a patient transport, and we transport all patients regardless of whether they are insured or the amount of their insurance benefit for our services. For your convenience, we have enclosed here the Physician Certification Statement signed by Dr. [redacted] from [redacted] Hospital attesting to the basis he used to determine that emergency air ambulance services were medically necessary and appropriate at the time of transport as well as the Authorization and Consent signed by Mr. [redacted] at the time of service.
Additionally, Air Methods takes very seriously the allegations of unprofessional behavior by the medical crew asserted in the Complaint. Air Methods contracts with [redacted] Hospital to provide the medical crew for this air medical program. We have worked with them to complete an investigation surrounding this concern. The investigation revealed that appropriate healthcare treatment was provided to the Patient and [redacted] Hospital explained to Mr. [redacted] the reason that treatment for his daughter was necessary. Furthermore, contrary to the Patient’s allegation regarding response times, our records do not reflect an inadequate delay in transporting the Patient. Pursuant to the orders of the attending medical physicians, Air Methods was required to first pick up the pediatric specialty medical crew from [redacted] Hospital (the receiving facility) prior to its route to the [redacted] Hospital (sending facility). Once Air Methods arrived at the sending hospital, the pediatric medical crew worked as quickly as possible to prepare the Patient for transport and finalize emergency services, which can take some time.
The Reasonableness of Air Methods' Charges
Air Methods respectfully disagrees with the Patient’s claim in the Complaint that our charges are excessive. First, Air Methods’ charges are reasonable and customary, as necessitated by the high cost of providing safe and effective emergency air transport around-the-clock and often in rural areas, such as this area of Kentucky. Air medical emergency transport is highly specialized and distinct sendee that is necessarily costly due to a number of factors, including the maintenance of expensive aircraft and equipment as well as the employment of sophisticated aviation and clinical personnel to maintain 24-hour readiness. Importantly, Air Methods has no ability to determine in advance whether its patients will be able to pay for its services—we transport all patients without regard to ability to pay, and we never ask prior to the transport whether the patient has insurance coverage or in what amount. To provide this life-saving emergency service, especially in rural areas of Kentucky where communities and patients do not have immediate access to adequate trauma care, we must ensure that our charges are sufficient to remain viable and continue providing such services.
Air Methods’ charges are consistent with the charges of other similar competitors in the Kentucky area, and the amount reimbursed by [redacted] falls far below the usual and customary charge for such air ambulance services. Unfortunately for this Patient’s family, [redacted] has done them a great disservice by underpaying their claim and leaving them with the balance.
Air Methods' Commitment to Patients with Financial Hardship
Air Methods takes very seriously its commitment to helping those patients with financial hardship, and we have a long-established charity care process in place to resolve such patient accounts. Air Methods discussed with the Patient a possible reduction of the balance in accordance with its policies and procedures by outlining various reductions on the total balance based on the Patient’s individual financial circumstances to include prompt pay resolutions, payment plan options and the completion of our Special Consideration Application. Air Methods mailed the Patient this charity application on May 19, 2015 but a completed copy has not yet been received by our office to date.
Air Methods would be willing to work through your office or the Patient directly to resolve payment due on this account. Additionally, Air Methods would be glad to consider an application for charity care on behalf of the Patient should the Patient choose to submit it, and at that time we can determine whether any further discount based on their individual circumstances is warranted.
Please let us know if you need additional information regarding this matter.
Respectfully submitted,
[redacted]
Associate General Counsel Air Methods Corporation

Thank you for your patience while I was collecting information and preparing our response.  Please let me know if you need anything further.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:All they are stating in this letter is what I have been arguing with them about for months. I agree dedicated to arrange a payment of the $400 from capital blue cross but they refused to make payment arrangements for me. They also didn't initiate this "debt" in a timely fashion since AmeriHealth  Caritas had told me they wouldn't pay it anymore due to the fact it was over the amount of time allowable to submit a claim, even when  they started contacting me in June of 2016. The AmeriHealth representative we spoke with, on the three-way call, stated she could not do anything since they won't sunmitigated the claim without the initial $400 from capital blue cross. As I stated before it's too late anyway, and it has been since 12/2015. The explained to me they only allow claim to be submitted within one year. This happened 12/2014 and they reached out to be on 6/2016 in regards to the capital blue cross payment. The way this was handled was very late and unprofessional. I tried my hardest to work something out but Ithe was already too late. They also tacked on almost $300 in interest to the account that was sent to collections.  
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Please see the attached document in response to the complaint