Submitted photo. Life Flight helicopter.

Central Oregonians who want full air ambulance coverage will have to pay for two memberships for the foreseeable future.

Two years after Life Flight Network expanded into Central Oregon, the company still does not have a reciprocity agreement with AirLink Critical Care Transport, which has served the area for decades.

Deschutes County commissioners asked the local Ambulance Service Advisory Committee to look into options to make air ambulance more simple and less expensive for residents. Doug Kelly, division chief of Redmond Fire and Rescue and chairman of the committee, said he hopes to arrange a meeting in April with representatives of the two companies to discuss “if there is a possibility to do one application with possibly a decreased fee.” Under that scenario, people would still need separate memberships for each company to avoid expensive air ambulance bills.

At a November ambulance committee meeting, it became clear the companies would not reach a reciprocity agreement. Life Flight representatives said an agreement was possible, but AirLink representatives cited a legal opinion from the Office of Inspector General U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as the reason the company could not legally participate in a reciprocity agreement, Kelly said. An AirLink official and Kelly were unable to provide the opinion on Monday.

“So there’s two different legal opinions, but the end result is the same,” Kelly said. “There is not going to be reciprocity.”

Kevin Schitoskey, program manager for AirLink in Bend, said the company honors memberships of other air ambulance companies that are owned by the same holding company as AirLink. Schitoskey said it would be illegal for AirLink to sign reciprocity agreements with any other companies. “Our (legal) counsel has made it very clear that this is not something that we can legally do,” Schitoskey said. “We do get that question fairly regularly, and our response is we can’t provide reciprocity so our suggestion to avoid any unnecessary costs with an air ambulance is to have both memberships.”

Lindsay Steele, regional director for Life Flight, said employees at the nonprofit company believe they can legally sign agreements to honor other companies’ memberships.

“We have other membership agreements with other for-profit agencies, and we were willing to honor AirLink’s membership for our service,” Steele said. “Life Flight put it on AirLink to come back with options they were more comfortable with.”

AirLink was the only air ambulance based in Central Oregon until February 2012, when Aurora-based Life Flight expanded into Central Oregon, with a base in Redmond. In the past, other companies in Oregon had agreements with AirLink so members transported by other air ambulances did not face charges.

A couple months after Life Flight expanded to Redmond, St. Charles Health System sold AirLink to the for-profit company Metro Aviation, based in Shreveport, La. Since then, the two companies have not had a reciprocity agreement. Kelly said it is not unusual for multiple air ambulance companies without reciprocity agreements to cover an area, and he has heard of cities on the East Coast where there are more than a dozen such companies that could be dispatched to a car crash.

The two companies say they charge consumers similar amounts for memberships and services. AirLink charges $65 for an annual family membership, according to Stacey Durden, marketing manager for AirLink. Life Flight charges $60 for an annual family membership, said Steele. Steele estimated a nonmember would face a bill of roughly $18,000 to be transported by AirLink from Madras or Redmond to St. Charles Bend. Schitoskey said the cost would be similar for a nonmember transported by AirLink, although he did not provide specific figures. The amount of air ambulance costs covered by health insurance varies by plan.

Sara Crosswhite, operations manager at Deschutes County 911 Service District, said local fire departments set up a matrix for dispatchers to decide which air ambulance company to call first, in order to have the fastest service. Crosswhite said the dispatch center has not had any problems as a result of the two companies.

“It’s been working great for us, we haven’t had any issues with it,” Crosswhite said.

Farmer Gary Harris lives north of Madras and is an AirLink member. Harris said he wishes county government officials could do something to require a reciprocity agreement between the two ambulance companies.

“To me, it’s got to be a function of a law change,” Harris said. “I’m sure the citizenry wants the best coverage they can get.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7829, hborrud@bendbulletin.com