Attorneys for a dozen clients in an air ambulance billing lawsuit have asked the judge to certify the lawsuit as class action, according to a KFOR report.
The clients claim they were billed thousands of dollars for an air ambulance. Four air ambulance companies — Air Evac Lifeteam in O'Fallon, Mo., Air Methods Corp. in the Denver area, Rocky Mountain Holdings in Englewood, Colo., and EagleMed in Wichita, Kan. —are named as defendants in the lawsuit.
In many instances, the lawsuit alleges, these companies will claim to be out of network, leaving the patient with a heft bill, according to the report. The clients in the lawsuit want the court to reimburse those who have already been charged and to create fair billing practices, the report states.
Two of the defendants — EagleMed and Air Evac Lifeteam — provided statements to KFOR.
EagleMed said it is still looking into the allegations and prefers not to discuss ongoing litigation.
"EagleMed has been, and currently is, in network with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma — the largest insurer in the state. At this point, we don't know why we were sued if our patient had BCBS insurance. We would expect the BCBS agreement to deal with this situation," the company added. "The only other EagleMed patient was said to have UnitedHealthcare insurance, which covered about half of the cost. If our patients need financial assistance with our invoices, we work with them — and we ask them to work with us when their insurance company underpays for services. We still would like to take our patient out of the middle and see if UnitedHealthcare will pay usual and customary rates."
Air Evac Lifeteam echoed EagleMed, saying it also is still looking into the allegations and prefers not to discuss ongoing litigation. The company also said it doesn't know why it was sued.
"Based on the petition, the only claim against Air Evac is for transporting a patient who was injured in an on-the-job incident. We would expect an on-the-job injury to be covered by workers' compensation with no patient financial responsibility," the company said in a statement, according to the report. "In addition, Air Evac has been, and currently is, in network with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma – the largest insurer in the state. Caring for our patients doesn't stop when we get them to the hospital. If our patients need financial assistance with our invoices, we work with them — and we ask them to work with us when their insurance company underpays for services."
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