Skip to main content

Beyond Transport, Chopper May Help Integrate Care

 |  By Alexandra Wilson Pecci  
   December 07, 2011

For several months, Cheyenne Regional Medical Center and more than a dozen other Wyoming hospitals, have been working to create the Wyoming Integrated Care Network. The network aims to better coordinate patient care within the state.

But in a place as vast and sparsely populated as Wyoming, which has the second-lowest population density in the country with just 5.8 people per square mile, there's a major barrier to coordinating care between rural hospitals and larger facilities: a lack of medical helicopters.

"In talking to hospital CEOs, at the top of their list was always air transport," John Lucas, MD, Cheyenne Regional Medical Center's CEO, tells HealthLeaders.

Dana Barnett, director of outreach at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, and a former CEO of several small, rural hospitals himself, agrees.

"As I went around to hospitals, often I would hear, 'Well, when are you going to get a helicopter?'" he tells HealthLeaders, adding that Cheyenne Regional's service area is 20,000 square miles. "There was a feeling in the region, that there were not enough resources available."

In fact, Wyoming Medical Center's Wyoming Life Flight is one of only two emergency air transport services in Wyoming, which is hard to fathom, considering the state's more than 97,000 square miles of Rocky Mountain-swathed terrain. In many cases, hospitals that need service have to find it outside the state.

"We're a secondary priority to them. They're going to take care of their own service areas first," Lucas says. "If we're lucky, we get what's left over. We don't think that's good enough for people here in Wyoming."

But that will change in early 2012 when Cheyenne Regional Medical Center gets its own air ambulance service that will be based at the Cheyenne Airport through a new partnership with AirLife Denver. The air ambulance will not only shave critical minutes off of patient transport; it will also help to truly integrate care in Wyoming.

"We are building 'systemness' in this state," says Lucas. "Part of 'systemness' is getting patients to the right level of care as quickly as possible when they have emergencies."

The helicopter will provide air ambulance coverage for southern Wyoming, western Nebraska, and northern Colorado. But AirLife Denver isn't "just bringing a helicopter and putting it in Cheyenne," Jana Williams, program director for AirLife Denver, tells HealthLeaders. Cheyenne Regional will also have access to two AirLife Lear Jets, a primary flight nurse team, and four specialty teams: high-risk obstetrics, neonatal transport, an intra-aortic balloon pump team, and stroke-certified transport.

According to Williams, Cheyenne Regional is putting about a half-million dollars towards the program. AirLife Denver, which is the emergency medical and critical care transport service of the HealthONE healthcare system, is paying for the rest.

Lucas believes that the new air ambulance will become a significant component of the Wyoming Integrated Care Network. He says it's a service line "that fits in with multiple other initiatives," including a telehealth service and a health information exchange.

It may also help keep patients in Wyoming for their healthcare, which has been an issue for the state. Many of Wyoming's population centers are at its borders, and patients often head to cities such as Denver, CO; Rapid City, SD; Billings, MT; and Salt Lake City, UT, for their healthcare.

When Dan Perdue, president of the Wyoming Hospital Association, and I spoke in June about the formation of the Wyoming Integrated Care Network, he stressed the importance of keeping the "continuum of care inside the state."

There's certainly a better chance of that happening if rural hospitals don't have to call around to other states to see if there are any helicopters available.

"We want to make sure that Wyoming hospitals and Wyoming physicians feel they can participate in care coordination mechanisms with other Wyoming-based facilities," Lucas says.

Alexandra Wilson Pecci is an editor for HealthLeaders.

Tagged Under:


Get the latest on healthcare leadership in your inbox.