REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
March 26, 2024
FROM
WILLIAM L. GILBERT, Director, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center
SUBJECT
Title
Agreement with CalStar Air Medical Services, LLC for Patient Transfer Call Center Services
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Approve Agreement with CalStar Air Medical Services, LLC, including non-standard terms, for one-call patient transfer call center services in an amount not to exceed $1,000,000 for the contract term of May 1, 2024 through April 30, 2025.
(Presenter: William L. Gilbert, Director, 580-6150)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Provide for the Safety, Health and Social Service Needs of County Residents.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Approval of this item will not result in the use of Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost). The cost of $1,000,000 is funded by State Medi-Cal, Federal Medicare, private insurances, and other departmental revenue. Funding sources may change in the future pending any legislative activity related to the repeal and/or replacement of the Affordable Care Act. Adequate appropriation and revenue have been included in the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) 2023-24 budget and will be included in the 2024-25 recommended budget.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Approval of the agreement with CalStar Air Medical Service (CalStar) will allow CalStar to continue to provide patient transfer coordination services to ARMC. CalStar’s All Access Transfer Center is a one-call patient transfer call center that does not pass calls to another source. As a one-call transfer center, CalStar finds the physician for the patient, the bed for the patient, connects physicians providing care for the patient, arranges patient transport via ground and air, and tracks the patient through arrival at the designated destination. Use of CalStar also streamlines the transfer process for patients that need to be transferred to ARMC from other surrounding hospitals or transferred out to another hospital.
The County’s previous Agreement No. 19-200 with CalStar was approved by the Board of Supervisors (Board) on April 2, 2019 (Item No. 9), in the amount of $1,229,000 for the period of April 2, 2019 through April 1, 2022, for one-call patient transfer call center services at ARMC.
On March 1, 2022 (Item No. 6), the Board approved Amendment No. 1 to Agreement No. 19-200 for patient transfer call center services, increasing the total not-to-exceed amount by $1,704,000, from $1,229,000 to $2,933,000, and extending the term by two years, for a total contract period of April 2, 2019 through April 30, 2024.
The recommended agreement with CalStar is based on the standard County contract, negotiated by the parties, and includes the following non-standard contract terms:
1. CalStar limits its indemnity obligations to claims that arise out of its own negligence or willful misconduct related to the services provided under the agreement.
• The County standard contract general indemnity provision requires the contractor to indemnify, defend, and hold County harmless from third party claims arising out of the acts, errors or omissions of any person.
• Potential Impact: CalStar’s indemnity obligation is more limited compared to the standard County general indemnity obligation. In the event a claim arises that falls outside the scope of CalStar’s limited indemnity obligation, the County could be financially responsible for the defense of the claim and any resulting judgment/settlement.
2. CalStar is not required to meet all of the standard County insurance requirements.
• The County standard contract requires contractors to carry appropriate insurance at limits and under conditions determined by the County’s Risk Management Department.
• Potential Impact: Without all of the standard provisions addressed above, the County has no reassurance that CalStar will maintain adequate and sufficient insurance to provide coverage to the County in the event of a claim. Insufficient coverage could result in expenses that exceed the total agreement amount, leaving the County financially liable for the claims.
ARMC recommends approval of this new agreement, including the non-standard terms, to provide for the safety and health needs of County residents by expediting patient transfer referrals to meet patient needs.
PROCUREMENT
The Purchasing Department supports this non-competitive procurement based on time constraints as the one-year agreement will allow the County time to conduct a Request for Proposals (RFP) for this service. The RFP will confirm whether CalStar is the only vendor that provides one-call patient transfer call center services for hospitals in this region.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by County Counsel (Charles Phan, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on February 29, 2024; Purchasing (Veronica Pedace, Buyer III, 387-2464) on March 1, 2024; Risk Management (Victor Tordesillas, Director, 386-8623) on February 14, 2024; ARMC Finance (Chen Wu, Finance Budget Officer, 580-3165) on March 4, 2024; Finance (Jenny Yang, Administrative Analyst, 387-4884) on March 5, 2024; and County Finance and Administration (Valerie Clay, Deputy Executive Officer 387-5423) on March 5, 2024.