January 2023 Update from Interim CEO, Kolby Kolbet

January 12, 2023

Happy 2023, AAMS Members!

As we move into a new year, I'd like to provide a brief AAMS update to bring you all up to speed.

First, please join me to welcome the newest members of the Board of Directors. Kim Montgomery, COO of Med-Trans Corp and President of SevenBar Aviation, has been appointed as the representative for Global Medical Response. Additionally, we have filled the seats for the Class II and Class III seats with the results of our recent membership election. Cindy Seidl, Chief Clinical Officer of STARS, will return as our Class II International representative. Jeff Richey, Executive Director of Airlift Northwest, will return as one of the two Class III representatives. We also welcome Dustin Windle, Program Director of Guardian Air Transport, as the second AAMS Board Class III representative. I very much look forward to working with each of you over the coming year! 

With the President and CEO search process continuing, the 2022 AAMS executive board will remain in place until the President and CEO is installed. At that point, René Borghese will become Past Chair, I will move into the Chair position, Jim Houser will assume the position of Chair-Elect, and the nominations committee will name a Secretary/Treasurer. 

Speaking of the President/CEO position, the search committee will begin in-person interviews at the AAMS office next week. We have received many skilled and qualified applicants for the position. The committee is committed to identify and install the next President and CEO who will effectively carry out our strategy and engage our domestic and international members. Stay tuned! 

2022 certainly was a challenging year for domestic air medical transport. Our industry faces a strong headwind regarding fair and equitable reimbursement that threatens access to air medical transport in some of the most vulnerable rural areas. Several bases have closed and with additional closures to follow without action taken to obtain fair and equitable reimbursement from commercial and government payors. I encourage all of you as AAMS members to become involved with advocacy work at the state and national levels. 

Last month, members of the AAMS Public Affairs Committee spent two days on the Hill visiting with several members of the House and Senate working to advocate on your behalf to delay VA parity with Medicare and seek a temporary increase in Medicare reimbursement that would provide our industry with some relief until we can conduct a thorough and accurate cost study, as well as share examples of the impact of the IDR process and payor behavior on our member organizations. It was a very productive two days, and it is important that AAMS continue to grow efforts such as this event into 2023 and beyond. 

As many of you are aware, Chris Eastlee, VP of Government Relations, has resigned from our Association. Chris' last day was December 23rd. We are working with Chris on a contractual basis during the interim to ensure a seamless transition on the continuing advocacy issues. The AAMS board of directors identifies this as a high priority given the activity on the Hill. I'd like to thank Chris Hall who has been chairing the Public Affairs committee and will continue to fill that crucial role moving forward. 

A few brief housekeeping items - registration is open for our flagship Medical Transport Leadership Institute (MTLI) and for our popular Clinical Educators Symposium (CES). The MedEvac Foundation has four MTLI scholarships currently accepting applications, two for the Undergraduate Program and two for the Graduate Program. CES is returning for its second year with limited seating available. I encourage our members to take a look at each of these programs and consider attending yourself or making the investment in a member of your staff to attend. If you're interested in learning from a previous attendee of either program, please let me know and we can make that connection for you. 
 
AAMS leadership and our amazing staff continue to meet with other associations within our industry to find opportunities to work together. The feedback we have been receiving is encouraging. Change is necessary to succeed in the market today. AAMS is committed to adding value to each of our members. To add value, we will need everyone's help and input to ensure that we work together, not only identifying areas of challenges but also areas of opportunity to work together to find solutions to ensure that patients around the globe will continue to have access to high-quality transport medicine.

Thank you for your continued support!

 
Kolby Kolbet, RN, MSN, CFRN, FACHE, CMTE
AAMS Interim President and CEO