Your chances of ever needing an air ambulance are slim, but if
it is necessary you want to be sure the helicopter arrives on
time.
Your chances of ever needing an air ambulance are slim, but if it is necessary you want to be sure the helicopter arrives on time.
That’s why the dispute between Hazel Hawkins Hospital and Calstar matters. The hospital administration has picked a fight with the nonprofit helicopter service over nickels and dimes, when what is really at stake is minutes and seconds.
It started when a hospital employee had to be transported by Calstar, and the hospital balked when it got the bill. That’s a feeling to which many of Hazel Hawkins’ own patients can surely relate.
The hospital demanded a discount on that bill and all future bills for hospital employees. Calstar, a nonprofit that operates on slim margins, refused.
Hazel Hawkins has the right to contract with whomever it wants to supply this service – especially when looking for a better price. And there is an alternative: Stanford’s Life Flight. Hospital officials say Life Flight charges $12,000 for a trip compared to the $17,000 Calstar charges.
But it is unclear that Life Flight, operating at a greater distance than Gilroy-based Calstar, can provide as efficient a service. In addition, Hazel Hawkins employed questionable negotiating tactics that, at worst, are a threat to patient care.
The hospital told Calstar that if it didn’t grant the discount, Calstar would have to pay a $500 landing fee each time it brought a patient to the hospital. Calstar responded by saying it would instead set down at the airport and have patients transported the rest of the way by ambulance.
We hope hospital CEO Ken Underwood makes good on his promise to work through the dispute with Calstar, or finds another service provider soon, because in a life-threatening situation, those extra minutes could make all the difference.
Hazel Hawkins also advanced the claim that without the discount it sought for its employees, health insurance costs could go up for all San Benito County residents. We find no evidence to support that assertion.
Meanwhile, it would be better for everyone if Calstar laid its cards on the table about the economic realities of the service it provides to our area so all involved can see how they arrive at the charge for using their helicopters in emergencies.
One positive development is that the public is now more aware of Calstar’s membership plan. For an annual fee starting at $40, Calstar members can rest assured knowing that if they ever need the service, it will be there for them free of charge.
In the meantime, Calstar and Hazel Hawkins seem to be involved in a test of wills. They should get over it, before the dispute results in the reading of someone’s will.
