The U.S. helicopter air ambulance market may be topping out, but Air Methods (whose United Rotorcraft division is here at Booth 5310) has no plans to reduce the size of its fleet. The company remains open to expansion and acquisitions, according to CEO Aaron Todd.
"There continues to be a need for air medical services, especially as rural hospitals continue to close,” he said, “leaving Americans needing to access tertiary care in a timely manner. While we don’t have a plan to reduce the size of our fleet, we do think strategically about where we position our aircraft, and that can and has led to base consolidations in certain markets. We remain inquisitive and open to acquiring more programs that can enhance our value proposition.”
While Air Methods is reducing planned deliveries of Bell 407GXPs this year under a 10-year contract, Todd said, "We remain committed to Bell Helicopter as our preferred single-engine aircraft provider and to the 407GXP as our preferred single-engine aircraft. We rely heavily on our aircraft to support our promise of giving more tomorrows, and given the capabilities and performance of the Bell 407GXP, it continues to be the right fit for our needs. We have scaled back our deliveries for 2017; however, we look forward to continuing our long-term partnership with Bell for the duration of our 10-year commitment.”
Although flights are getting marginally longer, he said, in the main, single-engine helicopters remain the correct air ambulance platform in most situations. "Of course fixed-wing operations are more appropriate for longer-leg flights, and we have fixed-wing aircraft in our air medical fleet. That said, the average trip length is up very slightly over the last five years, but nothing that we would characterize as significant or game changing. Our current fleet bias means we should be well equipped to handle future changes in the air medical landscape.”
Under-reimbursement from government and third-party providers continues to be an area of concern for the company, and Air Methods has joined industry efforts to improve this situation. "There continues to be an opportunity to improve the political climate when it comes to Medicare reimbursement,” Todd said. “The drastically low reimbursements from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services must be fixed, and we continue to support the proposed federal legislation that would resolve the Medicare reimbursement shortfall by updating reimbursement rates. As you also know, our industry is working together to ensure [that] access to these lifesaving services continues. The Save Our Air Medical Resources campaign recently announced that 40 healthcare, consumer and business organizations, local providers and industry leaders joined the campaign.”
Todd said the company continues to study the international HEMS market as a venue for future growth, and this includes China. "The Chinese HEMS market represents a large expansion opportunity for HEMS, but is still in its infancy with many hurdles to overcome in key areas including regulatory, infrastructure and reimbursement,” he said. “Regarding the question of broader HEMS expansion opportunities outside of the U.S., we see the opportunity and are studying markets where the regulatory, infrastructure and reimbursement environments can support long-term investment returns."
Air Methods remains focused on enhancing safety and is working closely with FlightSafety International and its new Denver learning center. Todd expects the center to conduct 10,000 hours of training per year, once all of its Level-D simulators are up and running. “The new learning center is part of our goal to enhance our training,” he said. “There are maneuvers that our pilots can better train for in the simulator; for example, inadvertent IMC, distractions and low-altitude emergencies to name a few. The simulators will aid in providing pilots who are better prepared for the unique air medical environment and whose competency can be better assured.”
Air Methods “made a significant investment in the learning center,” according to Todd, including a commitment to the Level-D EC130, EC135, AS350 and Bell 407 simulators even before they were manufactured. “We provided the aircraft and team for data-gathering support,” he added. “Once all four simulators are installed, we will be able to train for 75 percent of our fleet, and 75 percent of our pilots will pass through Denver for the four-day training. We will consume about 60 percent of the available hours on the simulators, leaving FlightSafety additional time to fill with their customers."
Todd said Air Methods is committed to retrofitting its entire fleet with crash-resistant fuel systems, regardless of FAA mandate, and is working with Vector Aerospace, which is certifying a crash-resistant fuel system for the entire Airbus Helicopters line. "For us, it’s about doing the right thing,” he said. "We are looking to retrofit 100 aircraft over the next two years. We have an obligation to set the trends in safety, and we demonstrated our commitment over the years, in our early adoption of night vision goggle technology, and our operational control center and HTAWS, which are now part of the new FAA HAA rule."
The company is also deeply involved in the growing debate over drone deconfliction and is devoting resources to it. "While we have mitigation techniques, deconflicting drones from our operations becomes the number one safety need for our industry,” he explained. “Our director of operations is on the HAI UAS committee, which supports the government’s UAS committee. We are currently the only HAA operator on the committee, and we’ve been participating since the beginning. The number one question right now is, 'How do we deconflict operations to ensure safety?' We need to come up with mitigations to deconflict the drones from where we fly.”
Air Methods also is looking at updating its analytics. "At this point we are not using predictive modeling to forecast weather, but we have gotten more precise in forecasting demand, maintenance and staffing irregularities,” Todd said. “Our systems in safety are also advancing more rapidly today than in past years. This is helping us to learn more about our operations and to better predict issues before they become crisis level. That said, we still have a ways to go and many generations of improvements to evolve through.”