Don’t leave rural veterans behind
By PJ Amartey, SOAR Campaign
May 17, 2024
Rural America faces a deepening health care crisis. With over 85 million residents, including 4.7 million Veterans, these communities experience significant health disparities compared to urban areas. Economic pressures and shrinking health care networks are leading to the loss of both rural hospitals and specialty care physicians. This alarming trend includes the closure of over 136 rural hospitals since 2010.1
This makes air ambulances, which provide vital emergency transport, an increasingly critical lifeline for rural America to get access to the nearest hospital or trauma center.
Unfortunately, despite this reality, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is considering a policy change that will leave even more Veterans, particularly those in rural areas, without access to emergency care when they need it most.
At the Save Our Air Medical Resources (SOAR) Campaign, we are committed to ensuring Veterans across the country have access to emergency care in their time of need. We and our partners are sounding the alarm because the VA is proposing to cut the reimbursement rate for Veteran air ambulance service to match the Medicare rate, putting millions of rural Veterans and their rural communities at risk. The current Medicare rate, which has been unchanged for over 20 years, already only covers about half the actual cost of transporting a patient. If these drastic cuts go into effect next year, air medical bases will be forced to close, leaving Veterans and their communities in rural and underserved areas stranded.
It does not have to be this way. The bipartisan VA Emergency Transportation Access Act, which has been proposed in both the Senate and the House, would stop these cuts. Instead, it would direct the VA to assess the rule’s impact on access to emergency transportation, take steps to protect that access and develop a new rate based on actual costs. The bill would ensure the VA works with air medical providers to develop a fair, data-driven reimbursement rate that keeps essential air ambulance services operational for Veterans. It has broad support: numerous Veteran Support Organizations (VSOs) have voiced their support for the VA Emergency Transportation Access Act. In March, many of these organizations testified before Congress and communicated how critical this legislation is for safeguarding access to care.
The stories of Dan McKeaney, a Navy Veteran, and Robert Vanbrocklin, a Marine Corps Veteran, illustrate why this is such an important issue. Dan and his wife Jeri were critically injured after their motorcycle suddenly blew a tire during a Veterans ride halfway between Phoenix and Las Vegas. Dan, who sustained multiple fractured ribs, a collapsed lung, a bruised heart, a lacerated spleen, a torn meniscus and a high-grade concussion, had to be stabilized by firefighters until an air ambulance arrived. Upon arrival, the air ambulance crew quickly put Dan in a helicopter bound for Las Vegas, saving his life and reuniting him with his wife Jeri who was transported by ground ambulance.
In rural North Carolina, a heart attack struck Robert Vanbrocklin at home. Were it not for air medical transport quickly transporting him to the hospital during the “golden hour,” Robert wouldn’t have been able walk his daughter down the aisle following his recovery.
“Before I got on the flight, [the flight paramedics] said I wouldn’t make it if I wasn’t airlifted,” he recounted. “And they were right. It was vital for me to get there.”
Mr. McKeaney and Mr. Vanbrocklin both experienced life-threatening emergencies in remote, rural locations and had to be airlifted to the nearest, most appropriate medical facility. Their harrowing experiences and recoveries underscore the ways air ambulances serve as a lifeline for millions of Veterans and their families.
Air medical services are often the difference between life and death for rural Americans, including the men and women who bravely served our country. We urge Congress to pass the VA Emergency Transportation Access Act to ensure that no Veteran is left behind when it comes to life-saving care.
PJ Amartey is spokesperson for the Save Our Air Medical Resources (SOAR) Campaign.
Sources: 1https://www.aha.org/news/headline/2022-09-08-aha-report-rural-hospital-closures-threaten-patient-access-care
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