AirMethods to be sold.

SandpitMedic

Crowd pleaser
2,309
1,260
113
Aeromedical giant AirMethods is being sold to a private equity firm that is tied to China by its parent company Amsurg. American Securities LLC, out of New York for $2.5 billion will purchase all of Air Method's assets and debt... there's a lot of debt. Expected completion of sale is the end of the 2nd fiscal quarter.

We will see how this plays out.

For those of you that don't know, Air Methods is the AMR of the air ambulance world. It would be like AMR being sold off by Envision. (Which there is talk of that too.)


https://www.google.com/amp/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN16L1H6
 

DPM

Forum Captain
419
27
28
I was just thinking about AMR, which envision has recently said is up for sale... could this signal the end of profit driven pre-hospital healthcare?
 

VentMonkey

Family Guy
5,729
5,043
113
For those of you that don't know, Air Methods is the AMR of the air ambulance world. It would be like AMR being sold off by Envision. (Which there is talk of that too.)
True, I see quite a few parallels between AMR and some of Air Methods' regional ops (e.g., Mercy Air), and can certainly see the comparison and irony with Envision and Air Methods itself.

Also, aren't Air Methods and AMR HQ both based out of CO? Either way, is any of this speculated to trickle down to the air/ medcrews?
 
OP
OP
SandpitMedic

SandpitMedic

Crowd pleaser
2,309
1,260
113
They are both based in Colorado.

Not sure what you mean about the trickle down. It's national news.

As to the signal of the end of profit driven EMS... one can only hope. The costs of operating our antiquated EMS model is catching up to itself. Healthcares rising costs and poor reimbursement rates are going to effect all of medicine. Perhaps EMS, as the most over utilized and least common denominator in any system is just the first to be affected in the private sector.
 
OP
OP
SandpitMedic

SandpitMedic

Crowd pleaser
2,309
1,260
113
Will it affect you?
Ohhhh... time will tell.
As of now it's business as usual. Once the sale is complete we will see what the new executives do to "cut costs."
 

VentMonkey

Family Guy
5,729
5,043
113
Ohhhh... time will tell.
As of now it's business as usual. Once the sale is complete we will see what the new executives do to "cut costs."
Guilty as charged: I don't pay much attention to the news.

I found out through you, just now lol. I asked our on-duty pilot; he echoed your response.
 

TXmed

Forum Captain
308
132
43
As long as there is any money changing hands we will never see an end to profit drivin healthcare.
 

VFlutter

Flight Nurse
3,728
1,264
113
We shall see. I am not sure what it really means for us front line employees for the immediate future. Just keep doing what you are doing.
 

GMCmedic

Forum Deputy Chief
1,640
1,056
113
For those of you that don't know, Air Methods is the AMR of the air ambulance world. It would be like AMR being sold off by Envision. (Which there is talk of that too.)


https://www.google.com/amp/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN16L1H6
Thats funny, in my area we call Air Evac "AMR of the sky".

My employer contracts Air Methods. The service is losing a lot of money. The hospital was bought by Acension a few years back and its rumored PHI will come in when the contract is up in November. Of course its also rumored that AMR will take over our county even though we have 8 years left on our contract and 2 brand new $250,000 ambulances with another $190,000 ambulance being built.

So who knows really. As it stands now, the pilots are Air Methods employees and the crews are hospital employees. Therefore, i cannot fly part time. If PHI comes in it will be possible. For my own selfish purposes I hope that happens.

Of course on the flip side, if Ascension decides to dump our service and contract AMR, ilI stand to lose $15,000 a year and once again be employed at a terrible AMR shop.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk
 

akflightmedic

Forum Deputy Chief
3,891
2,564
113
What is funny is all the references of X being the AMR of the air....but, I thought AMR IS the AMR of the sky....they do have a significant national medevac model which is growing rapidly and expanding. Plus they are neck deep with AMRG who has been buying mom and pops and larger for quite some time....if you look behind the curtain of many of the "brand name" air ambulance companies you will find the ultimate owner is AMRG.
 
OP
OP
SandpitMedic

SandpitMedic

Crowd pleaser
2,309
1,260
113
What is funny is all the references of X being the AMR of the air....but, I thought AMR IS the AMR of the sky....they do have a significant national medevac model which is growing rapidly and expanding. Plus they are neck deep with AMRG who has been buying mom and pops and larger for quite some time....if you look behind the curtain of many of the "brand name" air ambulance companies you will find the ultimate owner is AMRG.
This is true... they have a significant air ambulance program.
 

VentMonkey

Family Guy
5,729
5,043
113
I can't help but wonder why they almost always have continuous openings in Alaska, and Hawaii though; particularly Hawaii.

http://www.amrg.com/
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
SandpitMedic

SandpitMedic

Crowd pleaser
2,309
1,260
113
I imagine they just don't have the saturation that we do in the continental US.

They simply don't have enough credentialed and qualified paramedics to go around.

Alaska I know has very, very few Paramedics. They have 4 tiers of EMS providers... and pseudo paramedics are common with actual paramedics being very uncommon. Alaska has a difficult reciprocity law as well. You need medical director signatures and all kinds of board of physicians reviews and crazy ****. Then it takes like 3-6 months to actually get credentialed. You can get a "temporary" but most agencies won't hire you without the permanent as they don't want to waste money recruiting and training you unless it's a sure thing. The licensing website expressly says don't move to Alaska before you get your credentials. I looked into it when I was applying to school there.

I have actually looked into the Hawaii medic spots recently. They have ground in Oahu (seems to be IFT and 911 backup) and air in Maui open currently. The hoop is trying to get credentialed as a paramedic there, it seems to be doable, but also a hassle. You must have your credentials before being hired... which eliminates most people spending the time and money to get a Hawaii paramedic certification just to apply for a job, let alone uproot their lives and move across the Pacific. I made a few calls to their EMS offices which is a part of their consumer affairs division (or something similar) and printed out the application... I've yet to pull the trigger.

(I'm a nomad at heart... I tend to look at moving to exotic locations a lot and researching their EMS credentialing.)
 

TransportJockey

Forum Chief
8,623
1,675
113
True, and true to AMRs model, they concentrate on teh fixed wing side, since that tends to bring in more reimbursement than rotor
What is funny is all the references of X being the AMR of the air....but, I thought AMR IS the AMR of the sky....they do have a significant national medevac model which is growing rapidly and expanding. Plus they are neck deep with AMRG who has been buying mom and pops and larger for quite some time....if you look behind the curtain of many of the "brand name" air ambulance companies you will find the ultimate owner is AMRG.
 
OP
OP
SandpitMedic

SandpitMedic

Crowd pleaser
2,309
1,260
113
The sale was completed and is official as of last week. We will see what changes are to come, if any.
 
Top